Gabby's Song
by Slig
Summary: An aging Grubb finds a gabbiwog in Ma'Spa. As the gabbiwog grows, it learns about its family history ultimately, its place in the world.
1. Waterborn

Chapter One: Gabbiwog

A/N: This might also fit into the cliche category but I've tried to write it as best I can in hopes that it might make up for that, haha. Anyway, please read and review and tell me what you think! :3 Oddworld, as always, does not belong to me.

The world the Gabbit is born in is ancient and difficult to find. It is said that only a Gabbit can locate Ma'Spa - or at least, only those with the courage and tenacity of the Gabbit can survive the journey. The Mongo River carves its way through long-abandoned river cities, half-destroyed and buried houses and old, dilapidated farms. Further beyond the old villages, the river becomes much more fierce, with the First Wave of fierce, deadly waterfalls and rocks that just savagely from the roaring water. Upon passing the first wave, the river becomes wider, the grasses around it taller, and it is here that an old Grubb fisherman began his own journey up the river.

He followed the river upstream, where it ducked into a cave. His small body just managed to, boat included, fit itself inside the narrow mouth. He lit his lantern in the moist darkness, eyeing with awe the old factories that seemed to be built into the cave walls themselves. His heart pounded and he pushed onward, avoiding the dim, red glow of the occasional window. Whatever resided in these factories he certainly did not want to encounter.

The old Grubb wound his way to the first waterfall, where he pulled his boat out of the water and looked upstream to see where he could enter again. Unfortunately, the river was nothing but a series of narrow waterfalls that climbed higher and higher inside the massive cavern. Two large pillars looked as though they had fallen towards the river, where they were broken off before they met halfway. They were high above his head, above the buildings. He thought it might've been an error, or the aging of the caverns, but beyond those, upstream, he saw more of them, but they were connected in the middle by another large stone. There would be no way for him to travel by water any further.

With a sigh, the old Grubb packed his gear into his bag and left his boat where it was. He could build another if he needed it. The Grubb began the long march along the single pathway that cut away into the side of the cliff. The air smelled old somehow, and was full of the echo of the river. More walking introduced a much louder sound to his ears - a sound that he hadn't heard in a long time - not since his childhood. It was a terrible roar. He rounded a corner several hundred yards away, and saw it. The pathway took another dip before it went right into the great waterfall ahead. His jaw dropped. This was why, he realized, only the strongest Gabbits made it to Ma'Spa. The way was fraught with danger. And the only way he could make it now was to climb. The tiny Grubb braced himself, then disappeared into the blinding mist.

He reemerged momentarily, having rounded the dip. He went through his bag and produced a rope and a spike. The rope, he tied around his waist, the spike, he dug into the wall. After readjusting his straw hat, he pulled himself upward, jaw tensed in his age. Had he been younger the climb might've been slightly easier. With only one leg, he imagined how tough it must be for a Gabbit to do - especially one that was still a youngster. He removed the spike, then planted it again, higher, over his head. The rock itself was slippery and he forced himself to focus on the top. It was not so high - he could easily see where the water came from - it was perhaps fifteen feet or so from where he was. But the river below, he knew, was a good hundred feet down. He inhaled deeply, then pressed on.

He managed to make it to the top, where he noticed the water itself was not as tough as he imagined it to be. Once over the crest, he saw where he could plant the spike and pull himself up. He did so, sweat dripping from his body from the effort. Panting, he heaved himself away from the edge of the fall and, shaking, pushed himself into the dark tunnel. The water was not really deep but he didn't want to risk sliding off.

Why the Grubb was moving upstream he could not explain completely. All he knew was that, since childhood, he'd seen the Gabbits swim upstream and wanted to know where they went. It had taken a lifetime of research and training. However, his village had been invaded by Clakkerz, and all of them had been either herded into factories or murdered. The rest had been scattered about in secluded settlements. The Grubb worked in a factory for several years, his dream cut off. When the factory eventually shut down, he had already started a family and his children had grown up to have their own youngsters. In spite of his age, he decided against his family's wishes to set out anyway, so that he could die knowing he completed his dream.

The Grubb spotted the light at the end of the tunnel and pushed onward. The light, as it grew stronger, was blinding, and he was glad his hat was still intact. He, however, was dripping with water and sweat as he peered outward. The river widened again, but the hills were much greener and the air fresher. He inhaled deeply and stepped out onto the grass to rest.

When he regained his energy, he moved on. The days transformed into a week, and it was during this time that he rested and ate his fill, catching fish and eating them at his leisure. He was not attacked by anything, much to his delight, and it gave him time to absorb the landscape. It was pleasantly cool and he felt free for the first time in his life. No longer was he bogged down by his much-loved family or forced to do manual labor in a factory. He was alive, and even in his old age, he felt like a child once more. The mountains were clear and free from the pollution and invasion of industry and he felt as though he were hearkening back into more primitive, ancestral times.

The first week dissolved into the second, and he followed the river until it once again began to climb into the mountains. The air was growing a little thin but he could handle it. He began to wonder, however, if he'd ever come to the source of the Mongo River. He was growing admittedly tired, and for someone as old as he was, he wasn't sure if he should move much further. But just as he thought of honestly giving up, he thought he heard something peculiar over the next rise. Exhausted, he climbed up into the setting sunlight, and his jaw dropped. As the mist faded, what lay before him was unlike anything he'd ever seen before.

It was a massive tower in the shape of an ancient Gabbit; the rounded crown was dotted with conifers. The rock was intricately carved by either nature or maybe the Gabbits' ancestors themselves. Around the head was a great collar, from which water spilled down into dozens of shallow pools. Several waterfalls spilled into other pools, while as far as he could see the valley was untouched. He'd made it to Ma'Spa. Instead of seeing spawning Gabbits, the pools were still. He was certain it was the right season and that he was only behind them. Maybe the rumors had been true after all.

No more Gabbits.

His life's journey was fruitless. In his brave attempt to learn from the creatures he admired, he'd found only that they were hunted to extinction. He trembled and in a fit of despair, slammed his fist on the rock. He managed to keep his tears unshed, and decided he might as well go and see for himself. The Grubb pushed himself up and made his way carefully over the other side, edging downward little by little until his feet sank into the knee-deep pool at the bottom of Ma'Spa. The other pools above him were much deeper - several feet deeper than he was tall, actually.

His sadness grew as he climbed up onto the edge of one of the pools and stared into them. They were clear and he could easily see to the bottom. Fish swam about in them - small fish. Some of the smaller pools had become tidal pools of sorts, and the Grubb heaved a heavy sigh before climbing up higher towards the base of the large Gabbit-shaped rock. There was no real way inside it that he could see, so he simply stopped where he was and sighed again.

"Well," he said tiredly. "At least I got here."

Sitting where he was, he rested his chin in a hand and staired listlessly into the water.

That is, until something caught his eye.

He originally thought it was a fish. But there was something peculiar about it. He leaned forward a little to focus on it. It looked rather like a bubble with a tiny tail that propelled it about in the water. It seemed to be eating the smaller creatures in the water, from what he could tell. It had two large, dark eyes and he thought he could spot its brain and the beginnings of internal organs inside. And that was when his eyes grew wide.

"It can't be..." he whispered, focusing.

The little creature wriggled about, before looking around and, spotting him, gasped and hurried to hide behind a tiny rock.

"No! Wait!" The Grubb started, leaning forward over the water. "W-wait, please!" He bit his lip, uncertain if the baby could understand him. He knew Gabbits could speak, but it was rare they did. So he tried another method.

Puckering his lips, the Grubb whistled. It was a high, shrill tone. He didn't know the Gabbit language by any means, but maybe it would help.

The little creature peeked out from behind the rock, staring at his distorted figure through the water's surface, then jerked back behind it again. The Grubb tried again, and this time, the creature emerged. It was intelligent, so it couldn't be some tiny fish in the water. It had to be something more. The Grubb reached into his pocket and fished out some smoked fish he'd caught earlier. He couldn't tell if the creature could eat or not - it looked about the size of two of his fists pressed together, so it might have a mouth in there somewhere. He tossed the tiniest sliver into the water, just to see.

The baby started to swim out away from the rock, but hesitated several times.

"It's okay," he said slowly, carefully, quietly. "I'm not gonna hurt you. You look hungry."

After several minutes, the baby swam outward and swam around the slowly sinking sliver of fish, rubbing against it, and observing it in the most unusual fashion. Then, to his surprise, it disappeared somewhere below the creature's eyes. Maybe she did have a mouth. A moment passed, then the creature swam up closer to the surface, watching him, almost expectantly, for another scrap of fish. The Grubb smiled and tossed another into the water, heart pounding like a jackhammer.

He couldn't believe it. He just couldn't. Upon tossing the scraps into the water, he checked the other pools for more of what might've been Gabbits. There were none. As the sun began to set, he looked down happily at the thing.

"I've got to sleep now," he said quietly. "But I'll be right here okay?" He backed up towards the back of the pool, where there was a groove cut out against the large rock formation. It was large enough for him to curl up against and sleep reasonably well. He pulled an old blanket out of his bag and wrapped himself in it, eyes lazily landing on the baby creature before they closed again. The baby creature watched him through unblinking eyes before it finally slowed its movements, and fell into its own slumber.

The next morning found the Grubb staring face to face with a wide-eyed Gabbit youngster. It startled him, and he jerked backwards quickly, blinking groggily as he tried to remember what had happened previously. When it came back to him, he grinned and reached into his pouch and tossed some strips of fish into the water. They disappeared immediately.

"You're gonna get fat, ya little imp," he laughed, munching on the rest of the fish. "Looks like I'm gonna have to go get some more fish..." The Grubb frowned suddenly, realizing he didn't have a name for the creature. "Well uh... I'll think of somethin' to call you!"

He huffed and got to his feet. It was time to go hunting. But this time, he was hunting for two.


	2. Gabbiwog

Oh noes another Chapter! O: Anyway uhm. Hope you like it. Hehehe. o_O; I'm estimating anywhere between ten - twelve chapters, but I could be wrong. R/R? O:

Chapter Two: Gabbiwog

The Grubb found that hunting for two brought him back to familial days and made him almost long for it again. He missed his wife, his sons, his daughter. He missed fishing in the lake with them, teaching his grandchildren how to fish, telling them stories. He had a new charge now, and he aspired to raise the thing. When it was old enough, he decided, he would take it downstream with him - as the Gabbit was going to have to anyway. The journey downstream for a Gabbit is very difficult, although not nearly as difficult as the way up again. The miraculous journey of the Gabbit was perilous and he wanted to ensure it survived until it reached the sea.

Carefully, the Gabbit poised, watching the water with an experienced eye. The surface was smooth but underneath he saw the fish wriggling about. The light on the surface of the water bent, hiding the real location of the fish - a reason many young fisherman failed to catch their first time. He knew how it was bent, where the real fish was, and once one had entered his line of vision, he struck - the fish was completely speared onto his pole, and he pulled it out of the water. Around it, the fish scattered, but they'd return again. He placed the fish in his upturned straw hat. In his old village, he would've used a basket, but he had none.

After several minutes, the fish calmed down and he struck again, and again, and again, hitting the fish most of the time. His occasional misses were nothing compared to the amout of fish he had caught. There were ten total - but they were on the small side and he wasn't about to take any more. He knew of the natural balance of the world, and so took the fish and brought them back upstream to Ma'Spa. He had been lucky - he found a place very close by where the ponds were within sight - to cook the fish.

He would've liked to smoke the fish, but he didn't have the wood, the energy, or the time necessary to do so. The Gabbiwog in the pool had seen him return with fish and waited almost anxiously at the edge of the pond for him to bring some to it.

He cut a fish up and distracted the gabbiwog by tearing off pieces of the fish slices before going off to get some wood for a fire. It didn't take him long to find - there was old wood everywhere and he didn't want to take wood from Ma'Spa itself. It took him a few trips but he managed, dripping with sweat, to get the fire going and still have some extra wood left to give him a break. The Gabbiwog had almost completely finished off the fish he'd given it, and he didn't want to give it any more for awhile. It would give him time to cook the fish.

He set up two sticks parallel to one another and away from the fire, then skewered a fish on a third and set it in between the two sticks. One end was a little short, so he had to bring his hands uncomfortably close to the fire just so he could turn it. By the time the fish was cooked to the point of being crispy on the outside, his hands were smarting and he blew on them as he removed the fish. The gabbiwog was watching him, and while he worked on the other fish he took some time to really study it.

Gabbits were apparently very social, based on his research, and if left alone for too long could lose their minds. He understood well. Grubbs were also very social and he understood the pain and loss of no family. He certainly wanted to spare the little Gabbit of this fate. He wasn't sure how old the creature was, but something told him it probably hadn't even grown lungs yet. Its body was just beginning to lose the transparency of an egg, so he mused it was probably still in the first stages of life. How it had survived so long was nothing short of a miracle.

"Ah, well," he said at length to it, "I guess I'll call ya Gabby, since I really don't have a better name."

Gabby was cliched and almost ridiculous, but he passed it off. It needed a name and he couldn't just call it 'Gabbit' for the rest of its life. However long that was. What had really made him uncomfortable was the reason there were no more Gabbits. Could it be the hunters had found Ma'Spa and looted it of the Gabbit eggs that remained? He put the cooked fish out of the sun temporarily and tended to the fire while he thought.

If that was indeed the case, he needed to know if they would ever return. The first half of the afternoon he spent searching every square inch of the area around the pools. Any evidence of the hunters was gone but his instincts told him everything. The last Spawning had been successful, but the Gabbits had never survived long enough to hatch. If they were almost extinct, then this little Gabbit alone was probably worth millions.

He could've fed his family and the entire village for the rest of their lives. As he looked at the creature, the thought weighed heavily in his mind. If he turned this creature in he could save his entire village. The Gabbit was sacred to him, butthe survival of his village was just as important. For a long, pregnant moment, he stood, weighing out the consequences of either one.

There was a cheeping noise. He turned to see the little gabbiwog raise the top of her head above the water and make the same noise again. It surprised him. Gabbits didn't have lungs at that stage, so how on Odd could they make that sound?

Whatever the case, the little Gabbit had somehow won him over. His heart melted and he knew there was no way he could've turned the little Gabbit in. That decided, he turned and looked back beyond the valley. He had a new responsibility, one that spelled the fate of that entire race.

"We're gonna have to get you out of here," he said slowly. "Neither one of us will survive out here for long..."

What he was getting at, of course, was the hunters. If there was a chance of them returning, he didn't want to risk being seen. As he knelt down to let the little Gabbit rub up against one of his fingers, he began to devise in his head a container of sorts to hold it in.

-----

Building the container in which the young gabbiwog was going to stay in would take awhile - perhaps long enough for it to grow a little older. It was still much too young to survive going downstream. Its tail wasn't more than an inch long and nowhere near powerful enough to battle the rapids yet. He drew out his plans for the rest of the day in his mind, setting up for tomorrow what would probably take weeks.

The next morning he woke up early, fed Gabby, and fed himself. Once finished, he had to make his tools. The first tool he would need was an axe. He made this by finding an old, tough branch - something that took a good portion of the morning, and whittling it with his knife until it was soft and smooth. After that, he selected a stone from near the river and used the same knife to shape it in the form of an axe blade. The process was very slow - it took him nearly two days to build due to having to restock with fish and take care of Gabby.

Once the axe was complete, he tested it on a thin tree. It worked fine, up until he tried it on a thicker one. When the blade snapped off, he sighed doggedly and set about building a second. This one took three days longer than his previous one, but it was very sturdy and made his first axe look like a toothpick. He grinned as he felt the weight in his hands. This axe, he knew, was a good one. When he chopped down the tree that had previously given him trouble, he was ecstatic as the axe held. He took the log and brought it by the riverside, chopped it in half lengthwise, and left it to go check on Gabby. It was imperitive that the wood dry out.

The tree he had chopped down was very thick and the piece he would be using was long enough to hold Gabby without injuring her. Once he'd made his plans, he set about building something to carry the tank in. He couldn't very well carry it on his back. If he could get her away from Ma'Spa and into a nice, shallow part of the river for her to evolve in, she would be safe from any outlaws. He was well-used to living off the river.

During the next week he dried out the wood and began shaping it. The other thing he set about building was a second boat. But he had an idea about how to get it to travel over land as well as water. That way he wouldn't lose it. He didn't make it very wide, but his boat was a series of thick woven branches. When he ran out of twine he had to fetch vines from the bottom of the water, something that he was well used to. Once he completed the top of the boat, he added some framework at the bottom so it would adapt to the land better.

Meanwhile, the gabbiwog changed. Through his socialization and feeding the little gabbit grew attached to him. It grew a little larger and he could plainly see two holes at the top of its head. Someday, when Gabby grew larger they would become nostrils for breathing. Its eyes grew larger and he could make out the individual irises and the pupils. They were massive, taking up most of hte bottom half of its face. He could see its mouth plainly, and two little nubs there its arms would eventually grow.

Gabby followed him most everywhere, swimming about in her pool and watching him with its large, expressive eyes. Even when he fed it, it was always watching him, waiting for something. Every time he watched her, his heart would pound with a mix of admiration and terror, for the day he had to move her was edging closer and closer. He could feel it and it made him rather uncomfortable.

It happened one evening about a week later. The boat was completed and he was drinking from the river when he halted. A strange, peculiar feeling came over him. He rose to his feet and listened, shivering in the brisk air. There was something nearby - something bad. The Grubb moved past the source of the river, past Ma'Spa, over the next hill, where he smelled what he thought was smoke. It sent a spine-tingling bolt of fear through his body as he peered over the edge.

Sure enough, a thin line of smoke poured upwards from a glowing, changing shape at the bottom of the hill. Strange, thick, lizard-esque creatures with heavy jaws surrounded the fire. There were three of them.

"So why we gotta go back again?" asked one of them, voice disgruntled.

"'Cause," said the other. "Gotta do an inspection for th' boss. 'Said if we don't find anythin', we's can go back and there won't be no more trouble." He laughed to himself.

The Grubb gasped and hissed, "Outlaws!"

The first creature laughed as well.

"I thought we got all them Gabbit eggs th' first time?"

"Yeah.." the second said. "But y'know, gotta humor the bastard. We'll head up ther' t'morrow."

The Grubb had heard all he needed. He leaped away from the edge and sprinted down the mountain as fast as he could. When he reached Ma'Spa, he grabbed the container he'd been building and carried it over to Gabby. He hadn't the time to adjust her to it like he wanted, so all he could do was hope she would understand.

"Listen," he said as quietly as possible to the gabbiwog. "You have to get in bad men are gonna come and take you away if you don't! Please!"

He slowly, slowly, slowly eased the container into the water. The insides had been long-since smoothed so the gabbiwog could slip inside if it wanted and not hurt itself. To his relief, the baby Gabbit observed it and then slid right inside. He eased it up out of the water, careful not to spill any, and the gabbiwog made another cheeping noise as he carried it as best he could away from the pond. The entire container was about three feet long, close to a foot deep, and almost a foot wide. It was rather like a trough. He reached his boat and carefully rested the trough on it, tying it down and tying part of his blanket over it.

"I want you to stay in here okay? I promise you won't fall out," he whispered to the gabbiwog, then returned to grab his things. Before he left, he brushed as much ash into the earth as he could. He tried to keep it out of the water. He sprinted back to the boat, tied his stuff down, and set off down the river.


	3. East

Whee chapter three. o_ So this is going a lot slower than I imagined. Oh freakin' well.

Um. Okay - so the story's all out of whack but think about it. Across the world stories change right? So through word of mouth words will change, and while the story is largely the same, Gabby's gonna be in for a surprise if it ever meets the hero. 83;

Oddworld is not mine.

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There wasn't much to do except go downstream as far as he could. The Grubb had been standing for some time, carefully navigating his boat downriver, chatting with the cheeping gabbiwog in the back. He knew it was scared. But there was nothing he could do. This was the only way it could survive. Now he had to get far enough away from those hunters. Every time he came to a waterfall, no matter how small, he would carefully make his way down or get off the boat and pull everything off, bring the boat down, then put it back on. He'd had this happen a few times now, and already it was well after dark.

The sky was overcast, unfortunately, and he had no idea what time it was or how close he was to sunrise. Using his lantern, he'd managed to get around most of the sticky parts. When he came to the fields that had taken him weeks to cross, he climbed out of the river and fed Gabby, who was all too happy to have the cover taken off its trough. It didn't like being trapped and he knew it.

"Not much further," he said, "I promise. Soon we'll stop and it won't be so bad huh? At the first pond we come to okay?"

Ponds were safe, right?

He had in his mind a vague memory of a map of Mudos. If he headed northeast he would come to another river, another world where it was wetter, cooler, and much closer to the source of legends and stories. It was in the east that a creature called Abe had single-handedly destroyed four different industrial factories. Whether it was true or not no one really knew.

But the Grubb is very fond of storytelling, and in his old age he was beginning to feel that very urge - the urge to teach another. And the only one around to listen probably didn't understand him anyway. It was very early in the morning by the time he found his first pond. It was very small, but upon tasting the water he decided it would be fine. He carefully reached into the water, and the gabbiwog swam right into his hands, which delighted him. Quickly, he dumped it into the pond.

It took Gabby a moment to adjust to the different temperature, and with a shudder it was back to normal, swimming about and inspecting its little pond.

"Not so long ago," he said slowly, ignoring his sheepishness. The gabbiwog perked up and swam closer to him. "There was a terrible place called Rapture Firms. Profits were grim and the CEO wanted so desperately to save his company. So he put his own slaves on the menu and sold them as food."

To his surprise, the gabbiwog's eyes went wide. Or maybe it was his imagination.

"One of the slaves, named Gabe, decided he had to get away. He escaped Rapture Firms, but he hit his head and some say that he died." He paused for effect - the gabbiwog was stil watching him. "But an old wiseman appeared before Gabe, and told him to wake up. He told Gabe that he must go through many trials - the likes of which would transform him into a god. Then he must go back to Rapture Firms and take back the imprisoned slaves!"

The gabbiwog burbled underwater, the overcast sky hiding the shimmer that the moonlight would've given it. It seemed thoroughly interested.

"So Gabe did just that. He battled all kinds of sacred creatures and acquired their powers, then returned to Rapture Firms and saved his people. But then, he was caught! Just when things looked at their blackest, a lightning bolt shot down and stopped him from being destroyed, whisking him away to his true home and destroying Rapture Firms forever!"

The little gabbiwog spun about and chirped almost happily.

"So you understand me?"

There was a moment of silence and the Gabbit blinked, staring at him. The Grubb frowned.

"Ah well. Just for the record, whenever you can talk, my name's Zeke." He held out his hand towards the water and the gabbiwog swam closer to the surface. "The way you do that makes your water look like a prison."

He sighed heavily and looked up at the sky, resting momentarily.

----

The sun hadn't risen yet, but the Outlaws were wide awake - or at least, their leader was. And he was proceeding to awaken his two partners.

"Wake up, ya shmucks!" He proceeded to kick the smallest one in the ribs and walk past him, gathering his things and slinging them in a bag over his back. "The sooner we get this done, the better!"

The smaller of the two Outlaws groaned, "Awh, c'mon, Hal! Can't we wait until sunrise?!" He got up nonetheless, grumbling and swearing the whole way.

The third Outlaw, a tall, slender, effimate creature, stretched and yawned. "Hal's right, let's just do this." He urinated on the fire and kicked some dirt over it to finish putting it out.

The shorter Outlaw raised an eyebrow. "What IS it with you and pissin' on fires, Bill!?"

"Puts 'em out," said Bill, "Besides, I'm not gonna do it in the RIVER. People drink out of that!"

Hal laughed. "And you call yourself an outlaw. C'mon, let's go."

The three of them trudged lazily up the hill, towards Ma'Spa, a place they'd been several times over the months, harvesting the last remaining Gabbit eggs to be sold and eaten. It was simple work - all they needed to do was go in there with a net and a stun-gun - just in case there were any adult Gabbits - and swipe them up. But as they climbed over the hill, Hall stopped.

"Ya smell that?" he hissed, inhaling deeply. The other two began to sniff as well.

Bill grinned. "Yeah. Looks like we weren't the only ones 'ere. Smells kinda familiar too. What you think, Shorty?"

Shorty, the smallest Outlaw, inhaled. "Hmmm. Yeah. Can't put my finger on it."

The three of them moved on, following the scent back to Ma'Spa. As they grew closer, Hal's eyes narrowed dangerously as he inhaled, moving closer and closer to the pools. The other two could sense his growing irritation and fell back.

"I know I've smelled this scent 'ere before..." Said Hal as he walked along the edge of the pool. "Lotta wood too." He snapped to attention. "Bill! Shorty! Go investigate around here and report back if you find anything." As the others left, he sneered, "I got a hunch."

The sun had risen over the horizon when the others returned. Hal was standing chest deep in the water, arms folded over his chest, a rather sadistic grin upon his face.

"Well?" he asked.

Bill spoke first. "We found a damaged tree around the southern bend over there, looks like it was chopped by an ax."

"And I have this!" said Shorty, jumping up and down on his short legs. "These are ashes from a campfire!"

Hal grinned wider. "And y'know what I smell over here?"

The others looked up at him in wonder.

"Gabbit. And you wanna know what else I smell?" His grin vanished, twisting into a savage snarl.

The others hesitated, backing away.

"I SMELL BLOODY GRUBBS!" Hal roared, cracking his knuckles. "Now let's go get that Gabbit-Thief and chop him up!"

It can be said that Hal, Bill, and Shorty were quite possibly the most underestimated Outlaws in the West. It can also be said that because of this, they were sent on unorthodox, often pointless missions, which caused their tempers to rise. Still, they were a team, and worked very well together. Because of their powerful senses and tenacity, they rarely failed missions. They were, in fact, a force to be reckoned with. And when that force set its sights upon Zeke and the fleeing Gabbit, they were not about to stop until they had it.

The three of them started sniffing, heading downriver. It was the only place they could go. While most creatures are stopped by moving downriver, the three of them were not fools. Two of them moved on one side of the river, the third moved to the other, and each of them started sniffing. They weren't about to lose their quarry now that had just eluded their grasp.

Several hours later they'd come to the cave where the waterfall lived inside. Hal grinned. There was no way to take the Gabbit down into the waterfall.

"Sniff around!" he commanded.

The search wasn't long, and it was Shorty who located where Zeke's scent led.

"Right here!" said he, "Right by this pond here!"

Hal grinned. "Of course. The lil' Gabbit's still too young to breathe air." He took another sniff and followed it a few steps. "Northeast eh? Commere, friends."

When the others approached him, he put his arms around the two of them.

"What do we know about the Northeast?" he asked.

Shorty tried, "Uh... they got a lot o' trees?"

"No, idiot," sneered Hal. "Industry. Don't you read the stories?!" He slapped Shorty. "They're going east - it's rumored there's a population of Gabbits in the East. Now imagine what would happen if we got the last can BACK?"

"We'll be rich?!" Bill sneered.

Hal grinned wider. "Oh yes. Rich beyond our wildest dreams." Suddenly Hal jerked back and raised an arm in gesture. "Come on then! His scent isn't too old - let's follow him right to the sea - no doubt he's gonna set that Gabbit free!"

And thus, the persuit began again.


	4. Fly

Chapter Four: Fly

A/N: Alright, there we go. My chapters are short compared to what I'm used to writing, but I expect they'll get longer. I think it's because I'm writing within set guidelines. I'm not really used to it so things might seem hurried. Anyway, please, if you're reading this, please do the courtesy and at least tell me you're reading it. It takes a lot of creative energy to write these and it's kind of disheartening to get online and upload and see that I've got a lot of hits but no comments. So if you're reading this, when you finish the chapter, please do me one small kindness and comment - even if it's telling me my story is awful. I mean, I'm kinda writing this for you guys too.

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Zeke was in a state of near panic as he fled from the Outlaws. It was millions of years of evolutionary instinct that told him who was following him. Behind him trailed the old boat and the tank with the baby gabbiwog inside. Water would occasionally slosh from it and for a moment his heart would skip a beat. Odd help him if Gabby sloshed out and hit the ground.

He'd awakened with a start that morning, and having realized he'd fallen asleep, he scooped Gabby out of the pond and changed the water in the tank. If there was anything he knew about confined fish it was that they didn't do well in stagnant water. Without stopping to eat, he moved on, hoping maybe there would be time to do so. Unfortunately, his instincts were telling him one thing: Keep moving.

The land was nothing but a series of low hills, and it was clear he was far away from the Mongo River. Zeke was too terrified to stop, too terrified to do anything but run. He had to run and save Gabby, he had to run and save himself. He had to run and save the entire Gabbit species. Somehow the fate of another species rested on the shoulders of a gabbiwog.

Zeke noticed the earth had changed somehow and he looked down at the boat. It was creating nice lines in the ground. Zeke winced and realized he'd have to leave his boat again. And after all his hard work.

He emptied his bag quickly and attached to his belt the most important items: water, and his knife. He rinsed off the bag in the trough water and filled it up, scooping the gabbiwog with it. Fortunately for him, the bag was water-resistant, and held. But for how long? Zeke whispered softly to the Gabbiwog and picked up his pace as best he could. Gabby sank down near the bottom of the bag so it wouldn't slosh out.

His time with her was growing short. Somewhere behind him, he knew the Outlaws would surely find him. He had to trick them somehow. His mind reeled back to older days, where he was as elusive as the Steef itself. He was going to have to sink into the trees. But he was also going to have to save Gabby. He would have to set her free - but not here. Not now.

Zeke thought carefully. Gabbits often made their way to the Spawning Springs when they were old enough to develop lungs, and after that would swim to the sea in pods. That was where he had to go, but he only knew it was downstream - farther downstream than he had ever traveled. And, fortunately for him, further east. In the current direction he was going, the river was still a distance away. He would have to get back to it.

------

"Hey Hal! Check this out!"

It was mid-morning. Hal looked over to see Bill messing with a series of tied branches. He wasn't a fool. He knew what it was.

"Ah, so the little Grubb's left his boat behind." Hal lowered his head over it and sniffed deeply. "Pretty fresh too - not more'n a couple 'ours old. Heh heh."

Shorty rummaged through the other materials there. An axe, among other things.

"Well, I got a present!" Shorty announced, parading about with the axe.

Hal rolled his eyes, reaching over and grabbing Shorty by the wrist that held the axe, and slung him roughly to the ground.

"We ain't got all day. If we hurry we can catch up to him by dinner! Come on!" Hal shouted, sprinting after the scent the Grubb had so kindly left him. The others followed suit.

------

Zeke had found his way back to the river. He pondered stopping by to see his old settlement, but changed his mind. He would be tempted to stay if he did. He did, however, stop and quickly catch a fish so that he and Gabby could eat. It was a small fish, but it would do. Poor Gabby was not happy - he could see that in its eyes. It terrified him that he would probably have to leave it alone sooner than he would've liked.

A chilly wind had begun to blow - partly due to the elevation. As much as his kind revered the Gabbits, he himself had no idea where the Spawning Springs was. It was highly difficult to locate. However, he knew two things: It was in the mountains, and it was somewhere along the Mongo River. In fact, it was likely to be downstream of his homeland, if he hurried.

Skirting his home village, he was much further downstream by mid-afternoon. Zeke was exhausted. In fact, he wondered if he'd even run into the springs at all. The Mongo River wasn't a large river, but it took nearly two days if one wanted to follow it from its main estuary in the east to its source, Ma'Spa. That is, if you were going downstream. Gabbits going upstream often took up to two weeks.

Zeke wandered on, pausing every now and then to open his bag and check on Gabby. It seemed well, although it was clearly unhappy and would've liked to swim at its leisure.

"I promise," he whispered, "I promise I'll get ya home. Somehow."

The little gabbiwog made a strange cheeping noise and sank down deeper into the bag.

-----

"We're gettin' closer!" Shorty nearly squeaked with excitement. "Can you smell it?!"

Hal grinned. "'Course I can. There's the Mongo, too. Let's go."

------

They moved up into the mountains again. Zeke was all too relieved the Outlaws hadn't caught up with him yet. In his bag, he noticed the gabbiwog inside had become much more still. A glance inside told him that Gabby was resting, but it didn't look healthy anymore. He prayed silently that they'd find the spawning springs before the Outlaws. Every now and then, he'd look behind him and thought he heard something, and it made him all the more worried.

He was dogged for much of the day and into the night. This time, he was certain they had caught up to him. Behind him, dangling just out of clear vision, he spotted a flash of movement. As night fell, he found himself climbing. He kept whispering to Gabby, begging her to be okay. The bag wasn't exactly the cleanest bag in the world, but hopefully the gabbiwog would survive.

Zeke thought he was unable to continue at last. It was past midnight, and he'd had no choice but to stop. Heaving, he trembled, sniffing the air and trying to get his bearings. Just to his right, he spotted a steep, rocky slope, and the river continued to flow in another direction. All around, there was nothing but mountains and low valleys. He'd be lost for certain. Suddenly, he heard behind him something that made his blood run cold.

"Ahaha! We got 'im, boys!"

Zeke whirled to see the three Outlaws from earlier that morning, sprinting towards him, one of them holding his axe. He jumped backwards, forgetting all about his exhaustion, and went the only way he knew how - he climbed up the slope.

Sweating profusely, body trembling from sheer exhaustion, nearly rebelling against every move he made, he forced himself onward, adrenaline pumping like wildfire in his veins. The Outlaws closed in and leaped after him, up the side of the slope. Being much younger and stronger than he, it was no wonder they made it so quickly.

To his surprise, Zeke reached the top of the cliff, and threw himself onto the rocky ledge. Gasping for breath, he caught the strange, almost sweet smell of something below him. At the edge of the cliff, there was mostly steam,rising up from beneath the rock. Still panting, his eyes went wide and he realized what was underneath him.

Another gust of wind picked up and some of the steam billowed out of the way. He had made it at last. The spring was large, well hidden in the mountains, and delightfully warm. The pools were of varying depths, but he couldn't see more, as steam billowed up and replaced it. In terror, he pulled his bag around to face the front.

"Gabby! Listen to me," he hissed. The Gabbit moved up near the surface. "Stay here until your lungs form, then follow the river downstream - find your own kind, and live!"

And with that, Zeke reached in and dropped the gabbiwog over the edge into the water. There were no rocks beneath, so she would be fine. Then, he righted his bag and whirled to face his attackers. Still panting, he ran to the edge, where the Outlaws were getting closer to the top.

"HEY!" shouted Zeke, heart pounding, watching them.

The Outlaws grinned up at him. Suddenly Zeke spotted a landing not too far down. He could make it. He dropped over onto it.

"Want your Gabbit! You'll have to come and get me first!" Zeke taunted them, and in a moment, had pulled his pants down and mooned them.

"Why, you little!" Hal snarled, leaping away from the rock and lunging straight for him.

Zeke, more out of luck than instinct, jumped off the rock and hit the ground with an unpracticed roll. He hadn't done that in years, but he was glad he still knew how. He sprinted away as fast as his legs would carry him, the Outlaws hot on his heels.

While he ran, Zeke sent out a silent prayer for Gabby. _Please live,_ he begged her. _And please don't be too lonely._


	5. Vow

A/N: I don't own Oddworld. You should know that. |D

**PART II**

The Song of Kin

* * *

Chapter Five: The Vow

Gabby's dark world opened into a sea of light. Whatever sound she had made was lost to the wind as she sailed over the cliff and into the steam beneath her. She caught only a glimpse of Zeke before he vanished completely behind a wall of white.

Gabby was blinded. The world was full of tingling, warm, moist droplets and her heart leapt into her throat. And the little gabbiwog plummeted like a torpedo into the water. When she hit the surface, her streamlined body had instinctively rotated head first, and she hit it seamlessly, turning in the water and spiraling in its warmth before coming once again to her senses.

She swam upward to the surface, mouth opening and closing and body moving as she tried to move oxygen through her body. Up above, the steam curled and formed a canopy she couldn't possibly hope to see through. She jumped back underwater and renewed herself before returning again to the surface, cheeping.

The sound was made not by lungs, but by a special set of muscles in her body against her swim bladder. These muscles would eventually disappear as she grew lungs, as she would no longer need them. She had no idea how she made the sound - only that when she made it, Zeke came to her. It was her song of kin. She needed him.

Time passed and she continued her noisemaking, both underwater and not, circling the place where she thought she had fallen. But Zeke never joined her. She remembered his instructions, although she wasn't sure what he meant. She didn't know what lungs were. And she didn't know where she was. But 'stay' was a word that rang in her mind like an alarm. Stay.

Gabby knew she'd wait for him. The gabbiwog there, until her childishness overtook her and she grew bored of waiting. The pool seemed to expand deep into the steam, but she could clearly see underwater. Her stomach growled in protest, and this time, there was no Zeke to bring her that delicious smoked fish.

However, along the bottom, she spotted several fish of different sizes, several of which larger than she was. When she was younger, she had survived off the tiny bacteria in the water, and was often ill. But fish, she knew, somehow, was good food. It was there, in large schools, dancing about in celebration of their freedom. Her tongue slid out and licked her lumpy jaw.

She lunged for the fish, but each of them scattered in such unison she thought they were one fish. Several times she lunged, and missed each time. The fish did not move far - just out of reach, as though she were no real threat. Frustrated and out of breath, Gabby sank back and watched them. When she caught her breath she repeated, only to be outdone each time.

Zeke had not come, and she knew she had to eat somehow. Yet each attempt to catch the stupid fish failed. Repeatedly. Gabby heaved a sigh of distress and continued watching them.

At last, her hunger drove her to dive deeper to the bottom of the pool, where it was warmest. There, she saw the largest fish, and it was them she avoided. The largest she could see was at least three times her size - possibly about the size of a fully grown Gabbit. She wanted to be sick. Still, she examined the bottom of the pool, hunting for something, anything to eat.

Unable to find anything edible, she settled into watching the fish. Her hunger was developing an instinct in her that she shouldn't have had to develop. Eventually, she was going to have to kill one of those fish. At her age, her parents would've still brought her food. Hell, she shouldn't have even been in these waters for a few more months. But things happened. And because those things happened, she knew she had to live. Somehow, she had to.

For now, Zeke was forgotten, and her most immediate need was food. She observed the fish carefully. There were several small ones - small enough to kill, if she could fight them. Her large eyes slid back to examine her tail. She flicked it once, twice, testing its power. Not much, she realized, but perhaps enough to stun the tiny fish. But more than that, she knew there were other ways of killing the fish.

Gabby swam along the bottom. The fish, she noticed, did not move too close to the rocks on the bottom, and she realized the water was almost painfully hot within a foot of them. It gave her an idea. She swam up higher and observed the rocks around the fish. They were tight, but the idea in her head was forming. She kept swimming, noticing with delight where a rock jutted right out from the bottom of the spring, extending several feet up. She moved around it, noting with delight the cracks and crannies large enough for her to hide in, and the large hole in the middle she could easily fit through.

Already her survival instinct was kicking in, as she summoned the energy in herself to do this great thing. Gabby focused on a fish she liked, then launched herself towards them as before. The fish were well used to her by now and simply moved out of the way. But when she didn't stop her chase, the fish kept moving and Gabby kept chasing them, attempting to herd the one in her view towards that rock. It took a lot of work, but she'd successfully cut it off from the rest of the school.

The other fish did not try to help it. Like many herd animals, they understood that the sacrifice of a smaller, weaker one meant the stronger ones could move on. It was how life worked. Gabby, growling ferociously, was trying to cover her lack of energy and desperately keep the fish away from the others. The tiny fish was mortified, but every attempt at trying to reach its school was completely cut off by the hungry Gabbit.

Gabby was shaking now, terrified of losing the fish, but just as she managed to pin it against the wall and lunge, reality got in the way and she missed, slamming her head against the rock. Her jaws came together with a painful click, and, stunned, she let herself sink slowly to the bottom.

-----------

"I don't believe it!" growled Bill, staring down into the steam. "The rat fecking tricked us. I'll bet he threw the lil' gabbit down there, di'n' 'e?"

Hal adjusted his hat and sighed. "Probably. But don't worry. We got time. Remember how they used to say Gabbits'll stop in that eh... Spawning Spring to grow their lungs? All we gotta do is wait for it to happen. The Gabbit leaves, we get the Gabbit. Simple."

"What about the rest of 'em, boss?" asked Shorty.

"We'll get THEM, after we get the Gabbit," said Hal, picking up a rock and tossing that rock into the water below. "Agh, I hope it hits ya!" He snarled into the water. "Let's go."

---------

The rock that sailed into the water was nothing short of a stroke of luck for Gabby, for she had just come to her senses about the time the rock hit. She watched it as it sailed into the water. The fish overhead scattered and one of them made a beeline for her, not realizing she was there. Gabby froze, but just as it closed in on her, her instincts reacted like lighting and Gabby's tail shot up, smacking the fish into the wall behind her.

The fish bounced off the wall and Gabby, in spite of her dizziness, pounced on it, tearing into it with her tiny, hardly-formed teeth. She could only gum it to death, so she ate it head first. The fish was a little smaller than she was, but she had no choice. It was still a small fish, and by the time it should've awakened, she'd already digested half of it. The tail end of the fish floated up towards the surface and Gabby didn't move, stuffed in that one moment. She almost threw the fish back up again.

However, that one stroke of luck was enough to feed her twice over. In fact, she had enough energy to plan out her next kill. Gabby knew she'd be okay, even if she went hungry now and again. Night fell, but the steam was still very thick and she only caught glimpses of the moon. She whimpered to herself, wondering if she'd ever see Zeke again. Gabbits were not meant to travel the world alone, and already she was beginning to feel the pang of homesickness.

Time passed. She could not measure time, so she only guessed this by her own changing body. She'd managed, however, to get the art of trapping down quite well. And so, Gabby could feed.

She formed various traps for the fish, startling them with some noise and then closing in on the fish that swam too close. When she wasn't hunting, she was swimming madly about, desperate to build the muscles in her fin. She noticed, during one inspection of herself, that she had three little toes on her fin instead of a single tail. It aided her greatly, increasing her speed and strength as well as delivering more powerful blows to the fish.

She had her eye on one particular fish - the fish she believed to be the king. It was nearly twice her size, and Gabby wanted to take it down. However, it was old and wise, easily avoiding her attacks and once, when she swam too close, it delivered a smack of its tail that sent her clear out of the water and to the other side of the spring. She had a large, thin gash on her forehead that bled profusely, forming little red clouds that floated ot the surface.

She explored the spring until she knew it like the back of her fin. Everything she did in that pond was all about planning her next attack. And every attack was all about planning the biggest attack - that great fish that always eluded her grasp. While part of her longed for cooler water, she didn't mind the heat so much. When it rained, the steam would pile up even more, but it was often blown away by the wind and she could see the cloudy sky overhead. It was then that instinct began to overcome her.

She began exploring the edge of the pool, hunting for a way out. It wasn't time for her to leave yet, but her instincts were starting to kick in and soon, she would be able to. For now, she just needed to know where it was.

During one exploration, she found a narrow tunnel underneath the rocks on the opposite end of the pool she'd fallen into. She swam under and into it, tail flicking and pushing her onward. She felt the water cool off slightly and nearly came to the surface. However, when she spotted the figures camped out by the end of the pool, she stopped dead and immediately fled, hurring back under and into the warmer pool.

What was she to do now? The Outlaws were camped just outside - right by her exit. The moment she came up, they would undoubtedly catch her. There was no way out. She rested with her back against the side of the wall of the spring and trembled. They had taken Zeke away from her, she knew that much. She knew they had been following her since she and Zeke first fled from Ma'Spa.

She also knew something else. It was a vague memory, as she had only just been born, but the eggs around her were netted up. Her own egg had been knocked away by the jarring about of the other eggs, and many times she was narrowly missed. It had to be them. Somehow, they were the same. She had to get away from them. But how? She was still young and...

Gabby growled to herself, startling the nearby fish away. She had to live. Still growling, she vowed to make it through.


	6. Breathe

A/N: Oddworld ain't mine. Blah.

Chapter 6: Breathe

* * *

"Man!" Shorty complained. "How long we gotta wait here?" He lay backwards on the ground, soaking his feet in the warm water. Beside him, Hal and Bill rested.

Bill rolled his eyes.

"Ah told ya," he said. "We wait until the Gabbit comes out."

"But we've been waitin' here for weeks! Can't we just go back a--"

Hal lunged for Shorty, large fist closing around the bandana around his neck.

"You wanna leave?" he snarled, his breath making the shorter Outlaw wince. "Then get the hell outta here!" He flung Shorty downriver, where he barely managed to keep from being dragged away by the current. The smaller Outlaw held tightly onto a slippery rock and edged his way back onto shore. However, he did not leave.

Hal glared darkly at his comrades and growled, "We were given a mission and we're not leaving until it's been done. That's the rule. Sekto can wait. Besides, we come back empty handed and he'll have the hell beaten' out of us. If we come back with Gabbits, he'll be in a better mood."

The other two remained silent.

"Besides," Hal continued, "It's been a few months and we've had a pretty good time out here. That Gabbit's bound to come out sometime."

------

Gabby spent her time training herself. It was boring and terribly lonely, and as her lungs developed Gabby found she could form words and even practiced using them. With no one to teach her how to talk, she had to rely on her memory of Zeke's words. Fortunately for her, Gabbits have large brains. She knew her own name, Zeke's name, and several other words. She could understand things fairly well and often would talk to herself to cope with her loneliness. She didn't think about it. She looked to the fish for company and would often swim amongst them to ease her terrible pain.

Her thoughts never left Zeke. The Grubb had yet to return and she fought hard to forget about him. Instead, she focused on training her body. Gabby would, as her lungs developed, leave the water temporarily to grab a rock or something solid and drop it over the water. She would then leap in and dive after it, catching it as quickly as she could. She made this more difficult by tossing it further. Her arms were lengthening fast and often, she was plagued by terrible growing pains.

She practiced leaping out of the water, flipping, spinning, diving, and trying to dodge fish in the water as she caused them to scatter. She even stalked and caught her first fish without any traps, eating it in one bite. The Gabbit was quickly on her way to becoming a teenager. Still, she built up the muscles in her tail, roughly slapping the rocks along the side of the spring. She must get stronger than the Outlaws.

Once, twice, thrice, each strike sent pain shooting through her toes and up towards her body. But she ignored it, focusing only on what she knew she had to do. After awhile, the pain eventually diminished. Live, the words rang in her mind. Live. In order to live, she had to be strong, and fast.

It was one quiet evening when the steam was blown away by a powerful mountain gust, and she caught a clear view of the moon. Gabby rose above the surface and exercised her lungs, breathing slowly as she watched the moon. The moon shimmered on her gray-blue body, reflecting in her violet eyes and creating a large round circle on the water. It was this that Gabby swam into, and whimpered softly to herself as the steam covered the water again.

Gabby awoke with a start sometime early that morning, long before sunrise. It was time. Her eyes snapped open and she looked about. For the first time she'd slept outside the water and she noted with distaste that she could no longer breathe under the surface. Her lungs were at their full size, and she was forced to hold her breath - which she could do, she noted, for up to an hour without difficulty. She pushed her body underwater and sized up the large fish. It was still larger than she was, and she wanted to catch it before she left.

The large fish did not seem to notice her. It swam about almost mindlessly with the others, but anyone who knew the fish would not be fooled. The fish was several years old, and very wise to the tricks of Gabbits before her. She approached, aiming as though to attack another, smaller fish, while keeping her eye on the largest fish. The large fish watched her just as carefully as she was watching it.

Gabby had learned a trick about herding the fish. It was all about fooling it. The fish watched her as it fled, and she would inch slightly to right and angled to the left, as though to execute a left turn. The fish lurched right and she would snap it up in her jaws. She herded the small fish towards the largest one, which also moved out of her way.

Suddenly Gabby changed direction, startling the large fish and it rocketed out of the way, tail narrowly missing her eye. But Gabby did not stop. She tore after it, sending an explosion of bubbles in her wake. The large fish fled her, zig-zagging to throw her off. But Gabby was determined to catch it, and her training had helped her greatly. She closed the distance between them. Just as she drew within biting range, the fish turned and smacked her, hard, with its tail.

Gabby, for the first time, did not flinch, and sank her jaws into the offending tail. The great fish struggled and writhed like a maniac, its strength literally knocking the Gabbit about like a ragdoll. But she hung on tightly, growling ferociously and refusing to let go. In the end, the fish fled again, diving deeper and attempting to snap her jaw with its furious agile spinning.

Gabby's jaws ached and the fish's tail was cutting the inside of her mouth. Her eyes screwed shut and she knew she had to think of something. The fish did not look like it was about to give up any time soon. Gabby flicked her tail, fighting back against the much stronger fish. It was effective enough to create some resistance and the fish had to struggle to get away. It pulled her to the surface, literally trying to leap from the water. Its intent was to throw her off, but it hadn't counted on the female Gabbit's tenacity.

She had failed to catch it too many times. This time, Gabby promised, she wouldn't fail. As the fish rose from the water, Gabby jerked her head down and, while the fish was halfway in the air, she was in control. Able to release it for a moment, she found a better hold on the fleshier part of its tail and bit down as hard as she could. Beneath her jaws (as Gabbits have a terrifying jaw-crushing power comparable to crocodiles) she felt the bone give, and instinctively her head jerked. Being as young as she was, she didn't have the full potential of biting like the older ones in her family would have, but this time it was enough. The fish's tailbone was completely snapped, and every muscle beyond was paralyzed.

The fish struggled weakly, but Gabby bit away the tail and went right for its head. Normally, Gabbits are peaceloving and gentle. But raised alone, she was forced to do what she needed to do. Having beaten the strongest fish in a battle of strength, she ate her kill. Her jaw, however, was so sore she almost couldn't move it to eat. In the end, hunger won out and she finished off the large fish by mid-day. Then, she made her way into the tunnel and listened.

"This is it, I can't take it anymore! We've been out here for months and still no Gabbit!" Bill whimpered. "I got a family to take care of - I can't be out here at all times of the year. Sekto could've--"

Hal rolled his eyes. "That's your fault then. A good Outlaw knows he can't have a family - they're nothing but bait and a pain in the ass in the end."

Hal's words were largely from experience. He too, had wanted a wife and kids years before. And he'd found them, in an adventurous young female of his kind. While she wasn't the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, she was the only one brave enough to stand toe to toe with him. She was half his weight but seemed to even outwit him in Poker matches. He had taken a liking to her immediately and apparently, though they often argued, she did too. While they never wed, she became pregnant. It was during her last trimester that Sekto had called him out for an assignment, offering a good deal of pay. He'd accepted, but when he returned his wife and child were held hostage and eventually shot. In a fit of biterness he'd abandoned all hope of that part of his life and closed up. Had he and his comrades actually been real friends, he would've attempted to prevent this from happening to them.

Shorty did not completely understand it. He highly admired Hal and tried to emulate him, although he was very short for an Outlaw -almost laughably short. He couldn't even get lucky at the bar, much less start a family. It had never occured to him to do so. He couldn't exactly rape anyone either. Most of the females he'd attempted to rape usually ended up hitting him with a frying pan or even turning their own shotguns on him. He hated that.

Bill sighed to himself. "Yeah. But you gotta admit this waiting is horrible. You never know when they're gonna come."

Underwater, Gabby saw through the thin veil of spray and stared up at the midday sun. Suddenly, she was seized with a feeling, a series of images. There was a great pond somewhere to the east. The land dropped off into it. Out there, somewhere, was home. Her heart felt as though something were squeezing it to death. It sent an almost nonphysical pain shooting through her body, making her nauseus and her body want to just give out entirely.

But it also filled her with a grim determination. Somewhere out there, there had to be more like her. She shivered as she felt her muscles stretch in the water. It was time to go. Gabby swam back into the hidden spring.

"Hey boss," said Shorty, "When we catch our Gabbit, what are we gonna do with it?"

Hal cast a glance over at Bill. It was quick and hardly noticeable.

"We'll head back to Sekto and tell him there's more where that came from. If he doubles the price, we'll go back and get the rest. And he can keep this one as a parting gift," said Hal.

Bill heard the underlying truth behind Hal's words. Once they got back, he'd have some time to check on his family. He hoped they'd catch the Gabbit before sunset.

"Uh... hey boss," Shorty said again.

"What?!" Hal snapped at him. But his intent was cut off as he too, saw the bubbles rise from the water. He frowned. "It's probably just a vent from the spr-"

An onslaught of water suddenly seemed to rise up from the spring, literally drenching the three of them as well as completely dousing their fire. Behind it, the Gabbit leaped from the water and over the rock ridge that led her straight to the river. She splashed into it, moving as fast as he could, the current yanking her right downriver.

Hal jumped to his feet, dripping wet, roaring. "LET'S GO!"

The chase began.

Gabby had never in her life been in such powerful waters before, and she nearly lost the struggle against it. However, underwater her vision was better, and she could spot rocks and so avoid them when necessary. Behind her, she could hear the Outlaws sprinting after her. At this rate, they'd never catch up to her.

Once, she felt her arm brush up against a rock and winced, but didn't slow down. Her muscles were strong enough to keep up with the roaring water, although she was already growing winded. Taking a dive, she relaxed for a moment and let the water do its work. The trip downstream is hardest for young Gabbits, and being alone she had no idea what to expect.

The river eventually widened out like an on-ramp to an expressway, and she saw ahead a larger, smoother river. In a flash she knew it. It was the Mongo River. That river, if she followed it downstream, would take her right to the sea. Filled with renewed vigor, Gabby kicked her fin and hurried to merge onto it.


	7. Friend

A/N: Oddworld no mineys. D8

Chapter Seven: Friend

* * *

Gabby was able to rest now that she was out of the most difficult part of the river. The river was wide, slow, but still strong enough for her to relax and let it take its course. Still. Gabby did not float on the surface. She dove down near the bottom and held her breath until she could no longer do so. In her mind, she heard songs. Songs she herself had never made. They were old songs, songs with hidden meanings and songs she somehow felt a part of. They only served to increase her loneliness. She would whimper to herself as she floated along, determined to hide from her captors should they still be chasing her.

Food hadn't been something she'd thought prior to leaving. In fact, the fish in the spring were often lazy and used to her. But the fish in the Mongo were terrifying. Some had teeth nearly as big as she, sending her wicked, hungry looks as they swam by. Gabby would try her best to look big. At least the fish provided some company, but they still did nothing to ease the ache in her heart.

"I wonder when I'll find it," she said aloud, her voice still childlike. Her voice kept her company, but because of that she lost some air and hurried to recover it.

Day became night and overhead the moon was beginning to wane. Seeing no one, Gabby tried whistling. It was a long, high note that faded into silence. She listened, but nothing responded. Trembling, Gabby shivered and dove back under again.

Another night came and she dared to return to the surface. She hadn't eaten and her stomach was complaining miserably. For a moment, Gabby stopped caring. She let her body completely surface and she floated there, sighing miserably to herself in the darkness. For the time being, her survival instinct was just barely present, like a candle about to go out.

Near the shore, she spotted something that nearly made her dive under again. The pair of glowing spheres was trained directly on her. From where she was, they looked rather small, but larger than the eyes of an Outlaw. It squeaked. Gabby jumped, but curiosity overwhelmed her and she swam towards it. It did not run - but that didn't mean it couldn't be food.

But when she got to shore she merely looked at it, and it looked at her. Its body was smaller than hers, possibly two-thirds of her own height. In the dark it looked like a gray blob, with tiny ears and two far-set, glowing green eyes. Its tail, she noted as she saw it, was very long and slender. All in all, it didn't look like food.

It squeaked again, then hopped away on its single leg, only to turn around and face her again. Gabby blinked, tilting her head and watching it curiously. It squeeked a third time, and Gabby finally spoke.

"Do I ... go with you?" she asked it, searching for the words.

The creature squeeked yet again, and watched her unblinkingly. Gabby, terrified and curious, emerged from the water. She was so lonely that this creature would've made a better friend than a meal. It did not seem or sense hostile, and in fact drew closer to her for a moment and sniffed her. Then it hopped slowly away. Gabby followed it, still not the best at hopping on her single fin. But she grew used to it as she disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

What Gabby did not know was that someone else had come upon these very shores some time before, on much the same journey she was.

-------

"Man," said Hal, wiping the sweat off his face. "Good thing we know where it's goin'. I can't smell a thing in all this wind."

The wind had indeed picked up. In fact, Hal himself was having trouble. The river had picked up and the wind was swirling the surface.

"Let's camp for the night," said Shorty over the howling wind. "We'll get going again when the wind stops."

Hal looked as though he wanted to disagree, but did not complain. The three of them made camp earlier than they had wanted.

-----

"Where are we goin'?" Gabby asked the creature. It merely led her on into the darkness of the forest. Here and there she spotted a handful of glowing orange lights, but every time she investigated the rat would jump in front of her, not letting her get near them.

She gave up and ignored the lights, following it through the tall grass. It was so tall, in fact, that she could hardly see over it. The blades tickled her body and she tried to ignore it. But the night itself was cold and the trees were beginning to rock with the increasing wind. It made her very nervous, especially as she looked up to see the tops swaying about. Lowering herself, she tried to focus on the creature leading her.

By the time they came out of the trees it was nearly sunrise. Gabby was exhausted, and the rat-like creature seemed to sense this. They stopped at the edge of the trees and the rat began sniffing about. Gabby could hardly see, but she did spot the black shadow of mountains ahead.

"I wish you c-could talk," stuttered Gabby. She yawned. Much of the speech she recalled from Zeke had also come from the Outlaws, whom she had often listened to. Still, her speech was limited.

The rat kept sniffing, and returned, some moments later, with a large beetle. It dropped it in front of her. Gabby was too hungry to resist it. She pounced on it, losing her balance in the process, but ate it guiltily. It didn't taste anything at all like the fish she was used to eating, but she was hungry. She smiled a little weakly at the rat and all but fell on her side.

The rat went back to scavenging, but by the time it had brought her anything, she'd already fallen asleep. The rat ate the bugs itself. Her exhausted body occasionally spazzed, waking her. She shivered in the breeze and curled up tighter, whimpering in her desire for water. Overhead, the clouds slid across the sky, and Gabby realized she wasn't about to sleep again. Nearby, the rat was dozing. As she moved, its ears twitched and it opened its eyes, blinking at her, nose twitching.

It squeaked, then bounced away and Gabby had no choice but to follow it. She was certain now that it was taking her somewhere, possibly towards the mountains. Her single leg ached and she would've liked to rest, but that certainly wasn't about to happen. The open fields were occupied by half-destroyed buildings, and as the sun rose she could make out the individual shapes. There was distinct barking coming from them and Gabby felt an instinctive jolt of fear.

The rat halted, sniffing the air and turning to look back at her. It rose up to its full height, and on its single leg it could now see over the grass. It looked left, then right, then dropped down a bit and squeaked quietly. It hopped away and Gabby quickly followed. The barks were far in the distance, and Gabby only hoped whatever made that noise wouldn't come any closer. She couldn't move very fast - especially in the tall, itchy grass.

The day wore on and Gabby was beginning to feel weak. She might've been fine, had she been sitting still in the water. But with constant moving, stress, her rapidly developing body, and a lack of food she was beginning to give out. It took much more energy to hop than it did to swim, and Gabby felt rather sick to her stomach. The rat seemed to sense this, and their pace was slowed slightly.

The mountains were all-consuming, eventually covering the horizon. She could spot the green texture of spruce trees that blanketed them, and the occasional patch of orange-brown where there were none. It was this that she tried to focus on. The barking had completely faded.

By nightfall, Gabby was nearly at her end. Panting, she struggled to follow the rat.

"P-please," she hissed. "I can't... pl-please."

Finally, Gabby collapsed. The rat, too, was tired, and attempted to console her by browsing for more beetles. It came up empty-clawed, however, and returned to her side, sleeping close to her. Gabby wanted so desperately to get up, but her muscles were seized with pain and exhaustion, and the young Gabbit couldn't summon the energy. So she lay there, drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

It was nightfall when she awakened again. The drifting clouds had built up and then emptied themselves in buckets of rain over the land. Gabby was slightly relieved by it, and perked up. Her jaws parted and she tasted the rain, shivering in delight at its caress. Soon the rain began to pour relentlessly, whipping the trees about and sending needles flying everywhere. The rain was almost pile-driving the earth, stinging Gabby and the rat, who were forced to their feet.

Through the rain, the rat halted, sniffing and listening. Gabby thought she had heard it too. It was a single, solitary bark. Drenched and exhausted, it was only the rat's glowing eyes that created any form of light. The thunder was a near-constant grumble, so the bark went ignored. Now and again, lighting struck in the distance, nearly terrifying Gabby, who had never seen it.

They kept moving again, hoping perhaps they wouldn't be hit by anything.

It wasn't the lightning that was the enemy that night. Whatever had been plaguing them made itself known in the form of a small, hungry, carnivorous beast. The trio of young slogs parted the grass, growling and drooling hungrily as they approached the Gabbit and rat. Gabby whirled to face the predators, growling defensively. The slogs were undaunted, just as desperate as they were. There was a staredown, although the slogs' eyes were nowhere to be seen. The rat's green eyes cast twin lurid spots upon the slogs and it rose to its full height, snarling ferociously.

It was instinct that snapped rat and Gabbit into action. The pair of them spun and hopped away as fast as they could. The slogs gave chase.

Gabby and the rat were so terrified that they managed to remain a single stride away from the slogs. The slogs were so hungry and terrifying they were a single leap behind. Gabby could feel her energy sapping fast, and the hot breath of slog on her back was nearly overwhelming.

I'm not going to make it, she thought. What about the rat? The rat had led her this far and now it, too, was fleeing in sheer terror. It was then that she slipped, hitting the earth. Behind her, the world happened in slow-motion. The slogs leaped, jaws closing on her. Gabby felt her life flash before her eyes and in her mind, she imagined the Big Pond.

But there was no pain, no death, and Gabby saw something strike the small slog, knocking it away with a yelp. Then her world widened and the field was alight with green. Ratz poured in from all around, snarling and hissing and squeaking violently, pressing in on the slogs. The slogs snarled, backs pressed together as they found themselves overwhelmed. The Ratz lunged as a single unit, moving around the fallen Gabbit, and the slogs turned tail and fled. They might've been able to take on a single rat with the Gabbit, but they were young, and the wave of Ratz were too much for them.

Gabby couldn't summon the strength to move. She no longer cared about anything. Her body simply refused to obey. The Ratz surrounded her, and as one unit, as they had done many times before, lifted Gabby and the rat carefully onto their backs and disappeared into the mountains.


	8. Wisdom

A/N: -Insert entertaining disclaimer here.-

Chapter Eight: Wisdom  


* * *

Gabby shivered as her body was warmed into life. All around her was heat and she was pressed against something soft, warm, and alive. The world echoed with whimsical, musical chanting, and there was the distinct smell of something edible in the air. Gabby's eyelids peeled away from her eyes and she looked around. Her entire body was sore and her head was throbbing. She grunted, rubbing her temples.

Ratz piled around her, snuggled up against her to keep her body warm. She stared at them for a moment before looking at the rest of her surroundings.

It was a massive cave, lit by a shaft of light that filtered from the ceiling. It rested upon something massive and lumpy. Glowing green spheres illuminated the room as well, and a handful of creatures meditated here and there. She shivered again, spotting the small, dead animal. She knew it was for her. Freshly killed, it was - or at least in the past few hours. She made her way over to it and ate quickly. Her feeding caused the great lump in the center of the cavern to stir.

Gabby glanced up, watching it. The lump opened its for eyes and stared down at her sleepily. Gabby saw it, yelped, and scrambled to hide behind the Ratz. But then the Ratz simply moved away to hide in the darker shadows of the cave, leaving the Gabbit alone. She made herself as small as possible, growling and trying to avoid speaking.

"It is safe in here," droned the lump. "Please eat. The smell of death fills my cave."

Gabby crept back over to the small animal and ate it, although it did not taste pleasant. Her strength began to return and the Gabbit exhaled a sigh of relief as she ate until she could eat no more. Fortunately, the animal was mostly finished. Ratz approached her and ate of it as well, finishing what she had not. She noticed they were much smaller than she had imagined - all save for the one that had helped her.

"Th-thank you," said Gabby. She felt rather sheepish with her limited speech, but the lump did not seem to notice.

"I cannot leave this cave any longer," the lump said slowly, "So I spend my days watching the world through the eyes of those that live outside, whispering to them and influencing them to help themselves and others."

Gabby put two and two together.

"Did... you... send the ... thing?" she asked slowly.

"I told the Rat to drink from the Great River. It was I who sent the Ratz to escort you to me. I am the Raisin."

The Gabbit trembled for a moment, but she was much too full and groggy to feel any more fear. Besides, the Raisin filled her with a sense of calm.

"You look like one that came here before," he said. "He, too, made his journey to the... Big Pond."

Gabby perked up, eyes wide and heart pounding.

"Wh-where?"

"That," said the Raisin, "You must see for yourself. But feel free to rest in my cave. You have been lonely."

Gabby remembered the terrible pain of loneliness, but it was immediately doused by a half dozen Ratz that huddled close beside her. Ratz were better company than no company at all. She looked back up at the Raisin, but it had fallen silent. While she rested, she wondered vaguely if there were more forces at work than she had initially imagined. When she was younger, Zeke had been her world. Zeke was the sole provider and protector, in place of parents. As she aged, the Spawning Springs became a source of life and shelter. But as she moved out onto the Mongo River, the world had widened and she realized there would be more than she could ever know or understand. It made her wonder, and want it all the more.

When the Gabbit awakened, she felt the pressure to find the Big Pond - and the one that came before her. If he was out there, she had to find him. Whoever he was.

"Your journey," said the Raisin suddenly, "Is far from over. Do not forget, and trust yourself. You are a Gabbit, and one of the last of your kind."

Gabby frowned, staring sadly at the Ratz.

"But there are others," the Raisin continued, "And they are alive and well, rescued by the one that came before. In order to reach the Big Pond you must go back the way you have come. This time, there will be no one to escort you. Live, Gabbit."

Gabby shivered, and replied, "Y-yes. Thank you." Her voice, she noticed had changed, and while not unlike a Gabbit, it still had a feminine quality to it. Now fed, rested, and her energy returned, she was ready to go out and face the world.

Just as she had hopped onto the path that led to the Raisin, the Raisin added, "Do not let your loneliness overwhelm you. You are never alone. All around you is life."

Gabby took one last look at him before hopping away and out of the cave.

------

"Hal," Shorty whined. "I don't think we're even on its trail anymore." He was rain-drenched and, like the others, exhausted.

Hal ignored Shorty's complaints and sank his teeth into the large smoked fish. He spit out a bone moments later and it bounced off Shorty's hat.

"That Gabbit is followin' its migratory habit thing," said Hal, waving his free hand. "It's going to hit the sea, where the rest of the Gabbits are. We'll catch up to it or it'll catch up ta us. Don't worry."

Bill sighed and stared listlessly at the water. Hal glanced over at him, frowned, and shook his head.

"That rain washed up any chance we have of finding 'er trail," Bill mused sadly.

Hal huffed. "We're only a couple days away from the ocean. We'll get the Gabbit and get outta there. Now shut up."

-----------

Gabby was hopping faster than she'd ever gone before, leaping over the grass and trying to keep her balance. Her eyes were ahead. What the Gabbit didn't know was that all the training she'd done as a gabbiwog had saved her, built up her endurance, and thus enabled her to travel on land for long periods. Her journey back to the forest still took her a day and a half, but she passed by the run-down slog hut unmolested. No rain interrupted her travels, much to her delight.

When she reached the river again, she splashed right into it almost greedily, bathing in the cool wet. She was very tired from her constant traveling, but the river was merciful and soothed her aching muscles. Very hungry, as she hadn't stopped to eat, she let the river carry her further downstream before she dove under to catch a few fish. The Gabbit was finally coming into her own.

Day became night and Gabby tried to remember what the Raisin had said. _All around you is life_. Sure enough, he was right. The fish were alive, the birds in the sky were alive. The plant life was alive. Down to the smallest molecule, there was life. Even the river, as it tossed her about, seemed alive. Yet, it was still no substitute for what she wanted. She wanted to meet others like herself. Gabby frowned and stopped letting the river carry her. She swam along with it, pushing herself faster and faster to the sea.

Now and again, she thought she could almost hear what the Big Pond might've looked like. Maybe it was just that - a gigantic pond. Gabby felt her loneliness begin to grow, and as the days passed she ate and moved constantly, muttering to herself in her limited language and trying to cope with it.

The river began to widen one day. It had been steadily increasing in width for some time. When she first started her journey the river was close to ten feet wide. Then it increased to twenty, then thirty, until suddenly she could no longer see one side. Instinctively she remained close to the bank and stayed underwater, watching and listening. She had no idea that the river could easily reach up to five miles in width.

The water began to change as well. In fact, it began to taste strangely salty, and it tingled on her skin and in her eyes. She quickly grew used to it, and when night fell she climbed out of the water and looked about, for once not worried about the Outlaws bothering her. She was altogether tired, a tired that comes from weeks of effort and takes nearly that much time to recover. It was very dark and there were a lot of rocks about, so she explored the tiny island she'd stumbled upon and had a small battle with a crab before breaking it open and eating it.

Exhausted, she curled up in between the rocks and dozed, listening carefully for anything hostile. The only thing that echoed in her ears was the lullaby of waves.


	9. Sea

A/N: Osnap. Oddworld belongs to Oddworld Inhabitants. I don't own nothin'.

Chapter Nine: Sea

* * *

Gabby yawned drowsily, stretching, wincing between the large rocks. The waves behind her, which she was well used to, had grown increasingly louder. The Gabbit tilted her head, and peered over the rocks. Suddenly a wave of water rushed over the rocks, knocking her clear away from the island and tossed her spinning into the water again. She hadn't any time to recover, as the tide sucked her outwards and into open waters. She was nearly spit back towards the river again, but managed to hang onto the rock she'd originally been on. Pulling herself back up, she stared out into the sea, jaw agape.

There it was. The Big Pond extended endlessly. It was not like the land, unmoving. Instead, it was constantly shifting, like the wind in the grass. It seemed to vomit onto the sandy beach, foaming up as it rolled back out into the sea. The coastline extended as far as the eye could see, hills lined with trees and cliffs spiraling towards the sky.

She stretched and, overwhelmed by joy, she sprang into the water and danced like the acrobat she was born to be. Gabby flipped, spiraled, and leaped out of the water, whistling delightedly to herself. It had taken half of her life, but she had done it. Panting, she returned to the surface, floating on her back and relaxing as her body was rocked back and forth. This was not exactly like the river - the waters were much more violent.

Swimming over to another part of the coast, Gabby pulled herself onto the sand. The sand was still a few inches under the clear water, where it stretched out for several feet until it dropped off into the bluer waters. Here, the water really was a crystalline blue near the coast, and Gabby stretched and bathed in the sun.

"I don't want to g-go," she said to herself, looking out at the water. What Gabby meant was that she didn't want to head too far out to sea.

Being alone, Gabby would undoubtedly get lost. So once again, she was trapped. If she was lost, she might never find the estuary that would take her to the Mongo River. But why did she need it anyway? She had to find 'the one that had come before', the other Gabbit that lived somewhere out here with other Gabbits. Maybe Gabbits left some kind of signal to show where they had been. Heart pounding, she fought her doubts and dove back under the water again.

There was a shelf of sorts that dropped from four feet to over thirty, and Gabby dove down to the bottom. Her eyes easily adjusted to the pressure and darkness, and she began to look about. The ground was powdery and there were plants of all kinds sprouting from it. She stared in awe as fish unlike anything she'd ever seen swam about. Some were bright yellow, others were silver and still others did not look like fish at all. They looked rather like floating flourescent balloons.

But there was no sign of Gabbit. She swam very close to the floor, scanning for anything interesting. When she found nothing, she thought maybe she'd found the wrong ocean. Gabby swam up towards the surface. For a brief moment, something shadowy seemed to slide through the water far away. Gabby stopped and squinted, trying to focus on it.

Suddenly the fish were gone. Gabby shivered. Instinct was telling her only one thing: Get the hell out of the water. Eyes wide, she shot towards the surface. That shadowy thing was somehow bad. She made her way to shore and, in a strange act of terror, climbed up atop a large rock and huddled there, trembling. Her fear could not be explained, but as she looked into the water, she saw it. Just below that shelf, something swam by.

It was so large it could've swallowed her - and maybe half a dozen others of her kind - whole. It looked like a giant snake as it swam by, filling up her frame of vision. She could not know it was a Sea Rex, as she had never seen one. It passed by and Gabby did not enter the water again for some time.

"Wh-..what was that?" she asked herself.

Once the fish returned, Gabby worked up her courage and dove again into the water. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to continue searching now, what, with that thing hanging about. However, something strange caught her eye. It was very small - smaller than she was, and reminded her of a bubble. It trembled near the ground and Gabby dove deeper to look at it.

Upon closer inspection, her eyes went wide as she looked at it. The little creature was none other than a Gabbiwog. In fact, it was only just beginning to resemble a Gabbit. She dropped closer to the floor and whistled to it to get its attention.

The little Gabbiwog perked up, trembling, and looked about, and upon seeing her, seemed to relax a little. It moved away from the ground.

She wanted to say it had left, but she wasn't sure how and she didn't want to lose her air. The Gabbiwog seemed to get the idea, and moved closer to her, gurgling and cheeping happily. Maybe it thought she was someone else. Being underwater, she couldn't communicate with it as she wanted to. She didn't know the Gabbit language, but there was one other thing she could do.

Gabby swam a few feet away, and the Gabbiwog followed her. She swam in a circle, then up, over, down, and back. It became a game quickly. Gabby would make an arc or spin and the Gabbiwog would copy her. Then they would trade off. The Gabbiwog, although much slower and awkward, would move in a pattern and Gabby would copy it.

Then they played hide-and-seek. Gabby ducked down behind a large section of bright pink coral, eyeing with interest the fish and other creatures that swam about it. The coral itself was alive, she discovered some time later. The Gabbiwog found her quickly and the chase resumed, with the little creature chasing Gabby all about.

Her loneliness faded somewhat. But where was the oldest Gabbit, she wondered. Still, she thought for a moment, everything was okay.

------

In order to accurately continue this story we must go back in time, far back, to the Spawning Springs, where Zeke threw his young Gabbiwog over the edge and into the pool. It was unfortunate that the Outlaws chased after and eventually caught him.

"Alright, you slimy fishmonger!" Hal sneered, holding Zeke up by his collar. Zeke shuddered. "You better have the Gabbit, or we'll really make ya sorry ya don't."

He held Zeke out, who was grabbing at his collar in an attempt to loosen the pressure. Hal's huge knuckles were digging into his neck and cutting off his air. He struggled, panting, tongue hanging out of his mouth as Bill stood behind him and fished through his backpack.

"It's frackin' empty!" he snarled, ripping the backpack away and tossing it towards the ground. "The bastard threw it over the cliff!"

Zeke shut his eyes tight. He knew life was going to be miserable for him, but at least Gabby was safe. And hopefully, she'd stay until her lungs healed.

Hal tightened his grip on Zeke's collar and threw him against the ground. Zeke grunted breathlessly as he hit. He lay there, trembling, throat aching horribly. He started to get up, but Zeke grabbed him again, by the throat, and slugged the Grubb across his jaw. Zeke's head jerked with a crack, and the Grubb's eyes rolled back in pain. His air was completely shut off, and he couldn't even vocalize. But Gabby was safe, he told himself.

Shorty was clapping and jumping, cheering Hal on, while Bill was cracking his knuckles, awaiting his turn.

"You don't know the meaning of pain!" snarled Hal, hitting him again. Blood trickled from his nostrils, but Zeke didn't say anything. Hal finally dropped him, kicking him in the ribs, and Zeke flinched, clutching his sides.

Bill did the same, kicking him in the back of the head. This time, Zeke did yelp.

"SHADDUP!" Hal roared. "You brought this on YOURSELF." He kicked Zeke in the chest, and Zeke's yelp transformed into a choking cough.

Shorty pulled Zeke's hunting knife off his belt.

"Let's draw!" he sneered, lunging for Zeke, who was too paralyzed by pain to resist him.

---

Two suns later, a Mudokon wandered lazily along the river. He wore a pair of large glasses, and behind him trailed a second Mudokon. The Mudokon with glasses had a large book under one arm.

"I'm telling ya, Jody," he said eagerly. "This was the best readin' spot by the river!"

"TOM," Jody said, panting. "You made me walk with you ALL DAY to READ? Are ya nuts?" He threw up his arms and rolled his eyes.

Tom sniffed. "Ya wouldn't understand," he said. "Readin's very important to me. Even if I have to travel to the perfect spot."

Jody huffed and shook his head. "Well, you coulda warned me we were gonna walk this far. I thought this was like, by Alf's or somethin'."

"That old mook's full of it," Tom said. "Now this stuff's where the real information's at. Come on."

They hadn't gone far when Jody spotted something peculiar.

"Hey Tom," he said. "What's that?"

Tom focused on the lump on the ground. He glanced back at Jody with a shrug and walked towards it. Jody followed.

"Never seen that before," he confessed. But as he edged closer, he gasped in horror. "...HOLY SH-"

"It's a Grubb!" Jody interrupted. "I've never seen one up close before! Don't they hail from the west?"

"Well," Tom muttered, "It looks ..kind of like a Grubb. The poor guy's so beat up it's hard to tell anything. Look at all these open cuts. It's like someone went after him with a blade and just carved stuff right into him! We gotta get him back!"

Jody gulped. "All the way back? Isn't there a rest top somewhere?"

Tom shook his head.

"I wish," he said. "This guy's still alive, but barely. Come on." He and Judy helped lift the Grubb into their arms.

-----

Zeke did not wake up again for several days. Most of his recovery was spent in an almost deathlike slumber, halted only by his occasional crying out for no particular reason. As old as he was, it was a miracle that he was even alive. He had reached middle age a long time ago, and in his current state he still might've lost his life. The Mudokons keeping an eye on him grew quickly irritated with his fits.

However, when he did awaken, he was still in a sorry state. The Mudokons brought him water and after a few moments of swearing, Zeke was mostly back to normal.

"....G-Gabb...Gabby," he muttered lazily, spitting up water.

The Mudokon that had been giving him the water growled, "Who's Gabby?"

Zeke was in pain. So much pain. His eyes slid down to his arms, where he eyed with distaste the bandages covering them. Eyeing the Mudokons, he trembled and passed out again.

When he finally awakened again, Tom had taken a keen interest in him, and so fed him and gave him more water.

"So where are ya from?" he asked the Grubb.

Zeke thought hard.

"From... the west. M-Mongo River settlement... I found a baby Gabbit..."

Tom gasped, "Seriously? Dude, what'd you do with it?!"

Zeke replied, "Set... set her free. I hope ...she makes it.. Wha... ugh..."

"So what happened?" asked Tom. "What ran over you?"

"Was it slogs?" asked a nearby Mud.

"Outlaws... they're gonna... I have to go..."

Tom pushed the Grubb back down.

"No way man. You can't go anywhere," he said, "Until your wounds heal. Yer lucky be a live, ya little schmuck."

Zeke fell back onto his bed and moaned quietly. It took him nearly two weeks for his wounds to heal enough for him to walk around, and even then it was slow recuperation. The Mudokons had no idea what to make of him, but with medicine and time, he began to heal. However, his thoughts never left Gabby. During his recuperation, he exchanged stories with the Mudokons, and Tom wrote them all down in his book. He was even invited for tea at Alf's.

He remained in the village for some time, mostly because Tom insisted upon learning everything he could from Zeke. He and Tom went on walks, steadily increasing the distance until Zeke was healthy enough to continue. Weeks passed, and Tom insisted each time Zeke wanted to leave that time was needed. He would never catch the Gabbit if she was swimming downstream. But Zeke found that he wasn't lonely at all.

"Alright," said Tom, the day Zeke was finally ready to leave. "You got everything?"

"Are you sure I need this gun?" he asked.

Tom shrugged. "Well, I don't need it, and if you're fightin' Outlaws ya might as well take one of them down. I don't like guns and no one in the village wants it. I found it while exploring one day and ever since no one even wants to come and visit! Take it - please."

Well-armed with his rifle, Zeke had been outfitted with better clothes, and it was then that he gave polite goodbyes to the Mudokons that had saved his life.

"I'll always remember you, Tom," he muttered. And then the Gabbit set out east, towards the one landform he would surely find his Gabbit friend: The sea.


	10. Another

Chapter Ten: Another

Munch kept himself from panting as he gestured to the tiny fish along the sea floor. It seemed that all around him the water was filled with gabbiwogs. They kept together in a loose group, with Munch as their ringleader. He was exhausted; it was difficult for one Gabbit to herd such a large number. There were a hundred and fifty of them, and being young, they were prone to wandering off on their own. In a normal situation, Munch would've been responsible for helping to care for only a few, while the juveniles other than himself would've done the same. But now, Munch mused, he was considered an adult.

Ever since he'd released the can of a hundred and fifty Gabbit eggs, he'd become good with numbers quickly. He could assess a group of them and automatically know how many were in that group. He could add quickly too, and almost without thought, and this made counting them all a quick and easy process. Or at least it should have. While the gabbiwogs were eating, he counted them.

"Seven, twelve... nineteen, thirty-two... fifty-one..." he muttered, ignoring his loss of air. "Sixty, eighty-three, ninety-nine, one hundred-twelve... one hundred-forty-nine..." As Munch counted, he stopped, tilting his head. Where was the last one? Immediately his heart began to pound as he recounted, only to come up with the same number. Was he losing his mind? He counted them a last time, and had already begun to swim in frantic circles, pressing his hands against his face and shaking his head. He rocketed to the surface.

"Oh no, oh no," he muttered, panting as he took another breath and returned to the feeding gabbiwogs. He had to find the last one -it had to be nearby. Munch whistled loudly to get the gabbiwogs' attention, and told them with another whistle and a look to stay. He didn't want to leave them alone, but the thing had to be nearby.

He began his search by ranging in ever-widening circles, keeping one eye on the feeding offspring and the other for the missing gabbiwog. It was quite possible the little creature was drawn towards shallow waters. Oh, how irritating it was, hunting for it. In all reality he should've just left it behind. A hundred and forty-nine Gabbits was still a nice number. But Munch was frantic. He'd promised to take care of them, and it was his sole responsibility to preserve his species. The momentary panic he felt switched on to a defensive anger when he finally did find the gabbiwog.

Something was chasing it. His eyesight was very keen, but his instinctive, defensive anger brought about forgetfulness. He charged.

------

Gabby leisurely chased the gabbiwog, who seemed clearly to enjoy itself, and once or twice it would turn on Gabby, who would continue the mock chase and flee herself. She didn't see the charging blur until it was too late.

Something collided with her body with a painful thud, and Gabby went spiraling off into the distance, the air completely knocked out of her. Gabby choked, stunned, and hurried to the surface. Her attacker almost didn't give her a moment's rest, growling angrily and chasing her. Gabby leapt right out of the water and splashed under, only to land on her attacker. He scratched snapped, and instinct made Gabby reply to him in kind.

The gabbiwog, terrified, cheeped loudly, which snapped the two fighting Gabbits to their senses. Neither had been injured, although they were still riled with an instinctive anger. They stared at one another, wide-eyed and blinking. Munch wasn't sure, for a moment, if he was staring at his own reflection or not. He'd not seen another Gabbit in a long time and it took him a moment to acknowledge it. Gabby wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not.

Munch noted that this was not his reflection, but a light blue color. He could spot the violet and green colorations. It wasn't a common Gabbit color, as many of them would shift to a bright orange or a yellow, with some color variations. She was younger than him, still retaining a few features of a Gabbiwog that she'd eventually grow out of. She might've been only half a year his junior. He couldn't guess it accurately. Still, she was here and alive and he was overjoyed.

All at once the fight was forgotten. Although they did not know one another, the two fell into a moment of seamless acrobatics. They chased one another, danced, and spent a few moments following one another's movements. The call of kin had been answered. Munch couldn't really believe it himself, but there she was. He remembered also that his Gabbiwogs were still nearby, so he whistled to Gabby and the wandering gabbiwog before leading them back to the others.

Oh no, Munch thought when he saw them. They were scattered everywhere, and that sea rex could return at any time. He felt foolish for having left them behind. He glanced over at Gabby, who returned the look and, although she didn't understand what he wanted, she knew that the young Gabbiwogs needed to be close together. Maybe it was instinct. Maybe it was common sense. She swam off in one direction and whistled, attempting to get their attention.

The gabbiwogs perked up, and Munch swam in the opposite direction. The result was phenomenal. The Gabbiwogs, following an age-old instinct, acted like Meep as the older Gabbits rounded them up. When Munch counted them all, he was absolutely pleased and relieved. Now that they were together, he approached the strange female Gabbit.

"What's your name?" he asked, even though under water.

"G-Gabby," she replied. "I can't... I don't talk ...right."

Munch blinked and asked, "Where'd you come from? Did you grow up alone?"

Gabby nodded. "Ma'...Ma'Spa." That was the word, right? She hoped it was.

Munch had gathered immediately that her speech was handicapped because she had no idea how to talk. He would have to teach her. It would also mean she didn't know how to speak in song either, which saddened him.

"Were there others?" he asked, hopeful.

Gabby shook her head sadly.

Munch frowned, an eye constantly on the Gabbiwogs, and thought to himself.

During the days that followed Munch took Gabby and the offspring to shallow waters. He and Gabby spent much of their time talking and he taught her how to speak as well as sing. She learned, over time, the complex system of whistles and gestures that made up the Gabbit native tongue. There were various commands, invitations, and songs that described moods. And it was during this teaching that Gabby's loneliness finally abated.

He taught her about Worry fish, the Gabbit's favorite food, and she admired their tiny bodies curiously. They were almost like backwards fish, she noted, and much easier to catch than the larger fish from before. They were also delicious, much to her delight. He did not tell her what the strange device on his head was, although she had asked.

"I had to catch bigger fish in the river," she confessed. She still used simple words, but her vocabulary had increased a hundredfold.

Munch nodded.

"Gotta do what you gotta do," he said quietly.

-----

The Gabbits were growing steadily and Munch was growing restless. It was nearly time to move to the Spawning Springs.

"So they can get their lungs right?" asked Gabby.

Munch nodded. It was apparent that they do so, otherwise they'd either stay in their gabbiwog state forever or probably die. he didn't want to know. He spent much of the next several evenings explaining what it was they would be doing. He himself had never had the need to go upstream, as, like Gabby, he had ventured downstream to the Spawning Springs. Gabby remembered these springs with a shiver, for it wasn't so long ago that she herself had been a prisoner there.

The Gabbiwogs were excited. They were eager to explore the world outside of the water and Munch was all too eager to help them. Gabby knew that from the Spawning Springs, they would go further upstream to Ma'Spa, the Gabbits' true home. She hardly remembered the place now, but she knew what it meant for her kind. If they could survive the trip to Ma'Spa, the Gabbits' future was ensured. It excited and terrified her. She'd been downstream, but never upstream, and she knew it would be a constant battle for all of them.

-----

Unfortunately, the day of their departure was halted. Gabby had gone off by herself, as she often did lately. Maybe it was because she'd spent so much time alone. Or maybe she just liked to think. Gabby pulled herself ashore and lay in the sand. She knew Munch had told her not to go up there. It was dangerous too close to the woods and the estuary alone. But Gabby didn't care. She only wanted to relax for a moment.

"Well, well, well. We didn't even have to go lookin' this time!"

The voice was all too familiar. Gabby whirled to see Hal.

Hal laughed, and spoke again. "Aw, it's all grown up. Where's the rest o' yer little pals, Gabbit? We've been waitin' long enough!"

He leaped. Gabby dodged, hitting the water quickly and diving deeper, where Munch was waiting. He didn't look happy.

"Are you nuts?" he growled. "I told ya not to go!" His anger, however, didn't seem entirely directed at her. "We won't be able t' get to the river as long as they're here. They'll pick us off as we go."

Gabby looked around. "How do you know?"

"Boats," Growled Munch. "They have a boat and a net and it's gonna start all over again." He looked sadly at the Gabbiwogs, who were huddled close together near the bottom of the pool. "We can't go further out to sea or they'll die."

Gabby frowned.

"They need to be stopped," Gabby said. "I've been running from them since I was small. I led them here."

"Well," Munch huffed. "How?"

Gabby swam away from the Gabbiwogs and went to look at the boat. It was docked in the estuary, and through the water she could spot the distorted forms of two Outlaws moving about. The net was suspended from a large pulley that jutted out over the side of the bloat. They had to destroy that net somehow. She swam about and under the boat, trembling, before fleeing and rejoining Munch.

Munch himself looked very disappointed, angry, and almost frightened. He wasn't about to leave the Gabbits' side.

"Well," he said at length, "Find anything?"

Gabby nodded. "Yeah, there's a net hanging off the side of the boat. If we get rid of it we can... but... how to we get rid of it?"

"A net?" Munch asked. He thought a moment, then reached up and tapped the contraption on his head. "This thing don't work underwater... I might hafta charge it up before I use it again, if it even works anymore."

"What... what is it?" she asked.

"Oh, I dunno," said Munch. "Vykkers put it in my head 'cause they wanted me to track down and open up animal traps. But I can do other things with it. 'Cept... there's this drink I used to... I could shoot electricity from it."

Gabby was interested. She looked back towards the boat and frowned. They'd be off soon.

"I can go and see if it's up there. What's it called?" she asked. The thought terrified her, but she could do it.

"Ya won't find it, but thanks," he said sincerely. Then he became serious and turned to the Gabbiwogs. "We gotta get them somewhere to hide."

Gabby nodded.


	11. Enough

Chapter Eleven: Enough

Gabby and Munch led the young Gabbiwogs to a small cutout in the rock of the coastal shelf. It was very close to the coast, but they would be safe.

"Now don't come outta there," said Munch, "Until we get back."

He and Gabby went to the surface and peered out at the boat from behind a rock. All three Outlaws were moving, and Hal was shouting orders to his crew.

"I bet we could create a diversion," Munch hissed. "But you're gonna hafta do it."

Gabby gulped. "Uh..." She wasn't sure how though. As she looked up at the rock, she recalled something. She had hid here once. From something terrifying. Then it hit her.

"Munch," she said. "What about that sea rex? Is it around here?"

Munch's eyes widened. "Well... it doesn't come to shallow waters often, but it doesn't live too far from the coast...." When Gabby started to leave, he grabbed her arm. "Wait a second! Ya can't do that!"

"I have to. It will work, if I can lead them far enough away from shore for to give you some time. If the plan fails, I'm going to go get it," Gabby said.

Finally Munch released her.

"Fine, fine," he said at length. "Good luck."

Gabby dove underwater and hurried towards the boat, heart pounding. I can do this, she told herself. She approached the boat and resurfaced, in full view of Hal, who spotted her.

"There's one of 'em!" he growled. Gabby swam away. "Lower the net -we'll catch this one real quick."

Gabby didn't move under water. Instead, she swam just out of reach of the net, hoping to whatever was up there that she was fast enough to outrun the boat. The net lowered only slightly, and the boat started moving. Gabby kept ahead, diving under and resurfacing, watching them.

"What's it doing?" asked Bill, standing up beside Hal.

Gabby, from below, stuck her tongue out and waggled her fingers at them. Hal growled.

"Full speed ahead! Get that Gabbit!" he snarled.

Gabby was forced to speed up, hanging just out of reach of the net. Hal glared down at the Gabbit.

"It's tauntin' us!" he sneered. "Slow down already. We'll let it come ta us."

_'I've always wondered what Gabbit would taste like,' she said slowly. _

_Hal shrugged. "Tastes like fish, I imagine. Maybe I'll hunt ya one."_

_"I'm going too!" she argued. "You know I hate it when you leave me out of things."_

Hal shook his head to clear it of the memory.

----

Munch tapped the jack on his head.

"Come on, come on!" he hissed, praying it hadn't been underwater too long.

Out ahead, the bote had begun to speed up and Gabby was having a had time getting away from it. He concentrated, hard, and then he felt the familiar tingle as it began to spark to life.

"Yes, yes, come on!" He whimpered. The two antennae glowed, although weakly. "Yes!" It sparked to life, but faded slightly. It would work. He concentrated as he had done all those months before, when he'd worked so hard to save the baby Gabbits.

But when the boat stopped, Munch began to grow worried. Gabby had also stopped, and was staring at it in question. They were much too far out for him to hit and if they didn't come closer, he'd have to go out there to them.

Hal grumbled. "Ya know what? Let's just get this over with." He grabbed his shotgun from the side of the boat.

Bill grabbed his comrade's much thicker arm.

"What are ya doin!? We came all th-"

"Shut up!" He growled. "I'm only taking one!"

Gabby had never seen a gun before, so it didn't occur to her that one might be dangerous. To her, it just looked like some strange contraption, and she stared at it. Hal loaded it and aimed at her.

Munch waved his arms frantically. He knew exactly what a shotgun was and apparently Gabby didn't. He whistled. It was a single, high-pitched, commanding note, with a single order behind it: Run. Gabby heard it and instinct seized her. She dove underwater just as Hal fired.

The shot was loud and echoed loud enough to bounce off the hills near the sea. Birds took off from flight. Munch held the sides of his head as he felt the first wave of sound pound his body. The second was less harsh, but the sound echoed for several seconds. Hal stood over the bow of the boat, glaring down at the water. A thin, cloudy pool of blood found its way to the surface, and then nothing.

"You got it!" Bill shouted.

Munch, who hadn't seen her resurface, trembled.

Hal elbowed Bill and snarled, "Did you see it come up? I didn't. Pull the net up."

Gabby floated. The bullet had hit her, but fortunately for the Gabbit it had grazed the side of her body as she'd dove under. It was deep enough to bleed almost profusely, and it had stunned her. She sank towards the bottom and hit the ground, just as the Outlaws pulled the net up. Gabby, still stunned, blinked drowsily and wondered what it was that had suddenly surrounded her.

Munch didn't have a choice. He slid out into plain view and swam carefully towards the boat. He reached it, although it took him a minute or two. The Outlaws were focused on the net, and didn't see him. Heart pounding, he hoped for Gabby as he peered around the side of the boat. There was the pully that Gabby had described. He felt the familiar tingle as his SkullJack began to pulse for last time in its life.

"So why are we pulling the net up?" asked Bill.

Hal grinned and said, "'Cuz. The little Gabbit landed right on top of it. If it's dead, it'll be in the net. If it's not, it won't be there at all."

Munch peered under the water, careful to keep his jack out of it. Gabby was there, but apparently unable to move as the net pulled her up. He felt the growl wash over his body. It was loud enough to attract the attention of of the Outlaws. Munch could only hope he was close enough to the pulley to destroy it.

"Hey look!" Shorty shouted. "There's another one! What's that thing glowin' on its head?"

Munch fired. He couldn't explain how it worked, but only that he could do it. The glowing beam shot from his head, curved in a bright arc, and collided with the pulley, destroying it. The net collapsed and sank into the water.

"What the hell!?" Hal snarled, reloading his shotgun.

Munch didn't wait. Head tingling, he dove under and found Gabby, looking around dazedly as the net surrounded her. He pushed the net away and grabbed her arm, pulling her away. She was still alive, but a little stunned. She blinked at him, and her head began to clear as she followed him out of the way of the boat.

The shotgun had awakened something that had been snoozing underwater. Perhaps Munch was all too aware of it. He led Gabby away from deeper waters as the something pushed its way almost lazily away from its lair. It didn't take long for it to reach the boat. Munch saw it, and Gabby saw it, and they hurried to check on the Gabbiwogs. The baby Gabbits were shuffling impatiently about, but he believed there were all of them there. They came up out into shallow water just in time to see it.

"We'll never catch 'em at this rate, boss!" Shorty complained. He sighed to himself.

"Shut up!" sneered Hal. However, he stopped as he spotted the massive, dark shadow that seemed to overwhelm the boat.

"That's not a Gabbit is it?" asked Bill.

Munch and Gabby sat almost lazily on shore as they watched. While Munch inspected Gabby's scrape on her side, they both watched as the great sea rex emerged from the sea and tore the boat into pieces. There were screams, and then, as the sea rex satisfied itself, silence. It then disappeared into the sea from whence it came.

Gabby collapsed, staring up at the sky, and panted. Munch noted the injury on the side of her body wouldn't kill her, but she'd know now that guns were bad and probably wouldn't go near them. But it was over now. Gabby felt a surge of relief that she no longer had to run from anyone. She was free - in every sense of the word. And so was her species, at least for now.

Munch frowned and said quietly, "We'll prob'ly have to clean all that up. I dunno if I want the Gabbiwogs to get into it."

"Well, w... well, you.. could show them stuff and tell them what to avoid," Gabby replied. "They could learn from it."

Munch nodded. The two of them had been about to return to the water when Gabby felt herself scooped up into someone's arms. She was about to struggle, but the pistol held to her head kept her frozen. Covered with seaweed and blood, and half-mad, Hal growled dangerously into Gabby's ear.

Munch didn't move. He stared, trembling, as Gabby whimpered, shutting her eyes tightly.

The gun rang loudly in Gabby's ears. She thought she might go deaf, from the shock of it. Blood splashed against her head and body and she thought that was it. But when no real physical pain occurred, she opened her eyes. Hal's head had a large hole in it, and he was staring endlessly into space. Gabby leaped out of his arms as his body collapsed on the ground. Munch and Gabby stared beyond him to see Zeke, smoke still pouring from the muzzle of his gun.


	12. Pools

Chapter Twelve: Pools

Zeke was trembling. He'd never shot a gun before, and the experience was wholly disturbing for him. He'd never really seen someone get killed that close to him and it was frightenning. Hal hit the ground, and Gabby was safe. She stared at him, wide-eyed, and for a few moments there was silence in between them. He looked much older, and was covered with scars. And then...

"Z-Zeke?" Gabby said slowly, blinking up at him.

Zeke grinned.

"Didn't think you'd leave me out of the fun did ya?"

Gabby jumped at the Grubb, and for a moment there was a joyful reunion between them. He hugged her tightly.

"I didn't know if you'd come back," she confessed.

Zeke replied, "I was held back a bit, heh. So you can talk, and you're all grown up now, eh?"

"Yeah," said Gabby. She backed away from Zeke and glanced over at Munch, who hadn't moved. "This is Munch."

Munch nodded politely to Zeke, but didn't say anything. He hadn't spent much time around anyone else since Abe, and his protective instincts were worried about the gabbiwogs. He said his quick goodbye before jumping back in the water.

"So, when are you heading back upstream?" he asked.

"Soon I hope," said Gabby. "We were going to, but we were stopped."

"Well," Zeke said at length. "I think it's probably time I head back home. I did my job, and you've still got to do yours."

Gabby nodded. "I'll miss you. Thank you so much for helping me. And us."

Zeke nodded, patting her on the head.

"I'm glad that I could. Don't forget me, okay? I won't forget you either."

"Promise?" Gabby asked. When Zeke nodded, she sighed. "I should go then. I'll miss you."

"You too."

Gabby leapt into the water. She wanted the goodbye to be short, as she could already feel herself growing sick with loss. But she was free. The burden of worrying about Zeke had faded, and as she resurfaced again she looked to see Zeke still standing there, waving. He then turned and headed back into the forest, back to his home. Gabby watched him go, and then her instincts returned and she knew there were presently more important things to think about. She dove.

Munch was busily counting the gabbiwogs. When he finished, he regarded Gabby silently before drawing the gabbiogs out of hiding. They were glad to be out, and he let them stretch their fins and run about. After a day's rest, they set off early in the morning, up the Mongo River. Getting onto it was difficult - at least for the youngsters. Munch and Gabby had little trouble, but the baby Gabbits were struggling. Still, they all made it, and going was easy for the time being.

Gabby, since she knew the way, was instructed to travel up front, which surprised her greatly. Munch chose to travel in the rear to keep an eye on the younger ones. Gabby was terrified of leading, as she wasn't even sure she could remember the way. But the river flowed on and Gabby soon didn't worry about it.

Gabbits can jump very high out of the water, and as they came to their first waterfall, she overcame it with relative ease. She waited for the others, and they came in a wave right behind her, leaping from the water and splashing over the crest of the falls joyfully. Gabby was relieved. They came to several small waterfalls, and even passed by the shore where Gabby had met the Rat. She smiled, for although it wasn't there, she remembered it well. She also remembered her loneliness, and in a way, was glad she had gone through it - all for the happiness she felt now.

For the most part, there weren't too many falls, but the river was rough in some spots and the Gabbiwogs were a lot stronger than she'd given them credit for. They caught small fish as they went. Gabby spotted large fish she had once feared. While they were still large, she had within herself a confidence that was unshakable. She could've taken it.

The river continued in its ever-wide path, spanning days. The Gabbiwogs would play together, chasing one another, and Gabby and Munch would switch off so that one of them could rest. Some time later, they came a narrower part of the river that cut off from the Mongo. Gabby recalled it instantly and whistled, calling them to attention and heading towards it. The Gabbiwogs followed her, with Munch in tow. The river was much narrower and the crowd of Gabbiwogs swam very close together. Munch merely looked around, recalling very dimly what had occurred here so long ago. He'd been here, only he'd followed Gabby's journey and come downstream, as was the natural Gabbit's way.

Gabby leaped over the ridge of water that landed her straight into the warm, familiar Spawning Springs. She spun as she landed, hitting the water. Unfortunately, she forgot to slow down and hit the side of the rock wall head first with a grunt. Munch happened to have landed in the springs about the same time. Surrounded by the pool of other Gabbiwogs, he gave her a strange look. Gabby coughed sheepishly and rubbed her head. They dove into the second pool.

"This is where I killed that really big fish!" Gabby exclaimed. She swam about, recalling the ledges she used to swim through and the school of fish that filled the pool. It was much larger than she remembered. As she looked up through the fog, at the ledge that she couldn't quite see, where she had first parted Zeke.

"What is it?" asked Munch, looking up.

Gabby quickly told him her story, and Munch replied with his own. The two sat quietly in the water, enjoying one another's company.

Munch, unused to comforting someone else, suddenly whistled and dove under the water. Gabby followed, and the two played happily with the Gabbiwogs. They remained in the Spawning Springs for nearly three months - about the time that Gabby herself had stayed. Then they set off once more, once the Gabbiwogs developed their lungs.

The Gabbits, now larger than before, followed Munch and Gabby upstream, where the going became increasingly difficult. Gabby herself found that instead of being bored with doing this, she anticipated it. She wanted to go home - to Ma'Spa. Although she couldn't remember it exactly, she knew it was there, upstream, and it was exciting to see what it was like.

Nearly a week later they came to the place where our story began. They passed by a village of Grubbs, who hailed them as they passed. Gabby did not see Zeke anywhere, and there was no time to look. Beyond that, there was a great cave. The waters were shallow and there were ancient buildings. Like Zeke had done so long ago, they decided to leave the river and climb up to the top of the falls. To their surprise, there was a narrow, but freshly built bridge that connected them right to the waterfall. They wouldn't have to climb.

Curious, they sniffed the bridge to see who had built it.

"Grubbs!" Gabby said happily. "They built us a bridge!" She danced on her single fin, earning giggles from the juveniles. Once Gabby came to her senses, they kept going, crossing the bridge, and leaping back into the river to swim up once more.

They came out of the cave and into the clear air. It was a little cool, as autumn was beginning to settle. It took them two more days to reach Ma'Spa. They continued to follow the river as it made a large turn around the place where Zeke had once climbed to see it himself. The river became nothing but shallows then, and several feet wide. The Gabbits stopped swimming and stared in awe. The river was lined with ancient artifacts that vaguely resembled feathers. They stopped at an equally ancient wall not too far ahead of them. The wall was opened in the middle, and the Gabbits hopped curiously through it.

Ahead of them, they saw the back of the great Gabbit's head that looked over Ma'Spa. Gabby and the others hopped around it, staring at the expansive pools that surrounded the great head. Suddenly the juveniles leaped past Gabby and Munch and splashed right into the water. Gabby hopped over to one particular pool, the one she had been born in, and stared at it. There were vague, almost nonexistent memories about it in her mind. She wasn't sure if it was the right one, but it seemed right.

Munch hopped up beside her.

"You said you rescued all these Gabbits from a can, right?" she asked him.

"Well, yeah."

Gabby fixed him with a strange look.

"Well, how'd you get the can open?"

Munch laughed, "A can opener. It was hard to work it."

And it was then that the two Gabbits leapt into the water, into a world of nature and instinct, of song and acrobatics, the world of words forgotten. And it is here we will leave them, until they are called upon again.

* * *

A/N: Thank you to those of you who have read this. I went with the decision to leave Gabby's Song open-ended in regards to any mushy stuff. I do promise you that you will see some mild romance (but not in any of the prequel stories) later in the future, although it may not occur between canon characters. But I digress. I'll let you decide if anything happens. I hope I ended it properly, hahaha. Thanks again.

Love, Slig. 3


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